IPL 8 LIVE

For the second season running, Kolkata Knight Riders and Mumbai Indians kick off the Indian T20 League. The stage for last year's encounter was Abu Dhabi's Sheikh Zayed Stadium where MI fell 41 runs short of KKR's 163 for 5. MI should be aware how important opening encounters are. Following the thrashing at the hands of KKR, they went on to lose four more matches in a row and though they came back brilliantly by winning seven of their last nine matches to make it to the play-offs, a bad start meant they were never considered a threatening opposition. KKR also had their share of ups and downs but peaked at the right time and lifted the trophy for the second time. As to the match tomorrow, MI will have to play their A game if they are to break KKR's nine-game winning streak. Venue: Eden Gardens, Kolkata Date: April 8, 2015 Time: 20:00 IST Weather: The weather has been forecast to be partly cloudy with the temperatures hovering between 24 and 33 degrees Celsius. Team News Kolkata Knight Riders The defending champions have no reasons to tamper with the combination that won them the final against Kings XI Punjab last year. KKR would have breathed a big sigh of relief after Sunil Narine was cleared to play the T20 League following a successful retest on his bowling action in Chennai. Gautam Gambhir is one of the few captains this season to have no selection headaches. Probable XI: 1. Robin Uthappa (wicketkeeper), 2. Gautam Gambhir (captain), 3. Manish Pandey, 4. Yusuf Pathan, 5. Shakib Al Hasan, 6. Ryan ten Doeschate, 7. Suryakumar Yadav, 8. Piyush Chawla, 9. Sunil Narine, 10. Morne Morkel, 11. Umesh Yadav Mumbai Indians Opening was a big problem for MI last year. They began with the combination of Michael Hussey and Aditya Tare and after it didn't work, Rohit Sharma joined Tare for a few games. Ben Dunk and CM Gautam were also tried but to no avail. Only towards the end, they managed to find a reliable pair in Lendl Simmons, a late replacement for allrounder Jalaj Saxena, and Hussey. However, when MI let Hussey go to Chennai Super Kings and went for Aaron Finch at the auctions earlier this year, it was clear they were trying to bring in more stability. With Finch and Simmons more or less certain to open, Mumbai will have two players to pick from the quartet of Kieron Pollard, Lasith Malinga, Corey Anderson and Josh Hazlewood - all very important players. Vinay Kumar, who was part of KKR's winning team last season, should make his MI debut - besides Unmukt Chand - in light of his familiarity with the Eden pitch and an excellent domestic season where he led Karnataka to their second successive Ranji Trophy win. Probable XI: 1. Lendl Simmons, 2. Aaron Finch, 3. Unmukt Chand, 4. Rohit Sharma (captain), 5. Kieron Pollard, 6. Ambati Rayudu, 7. Aditya Tare (wicketkeeper), 8. Harbhajan Singh, 9. Lasith Malinga, 10. Vinay Kumar 11. Pragyan Ojha Quotes: That needs to be figured out. I am going to sit down and see what the best combination is. Whatever I am going to do, I am going to do in the team's interest. I am going to try and do whatever suits the team. But definitely, I have been opening for the past two years, I would like to continue. We will see. Once we go to Kolkata and see the wicket, we will decide:Rohit Sharma when asked whether he will open He's an integral part of KKR, he will always be an integral part... Even if he bowls a straight ball, he will be an asset for us and will always remain an asset. That's the confidence we have on Sunil. We never thought that we needed a back-up spinner for him.There can never be a backup for Sunil: Gautam Gambhir stressing Sunil Narine's importance Teams: Mumbai Indians (From): Aaron Finch, Aditya Tare(w), Rohit Sharma(c), Corey Anderson, Kieron Pollard, Ambati Rayudu, Shreyas Gopal, Harbhajan Singh, Vinay Kumar, Lasith Malinga, Jasprit Bumrah, Pragyan Ojha, Lendl Simmons, Unmukt Chand, Parthiv Patel, Josh Hazlewood, Marchant de Lange, Pawan Suyal, Mitchell McClenaghan, Abhimanyu Mithun, Aiden Blizzard, Akshay Wakhare, Nitish Rana, Siddhesh Lad, Hardik Pandya, Jagadeesha Suchith Kolkata Knight Riders (From): Gautam Gambhir(c), Robin Uthappa(w), Manish Pandey, Shakib Al Hasan, Yusuf Pathan, Ryan ten Doeschate, Suryakumar Yadav, Piyush Chawla, Sunil Narine, Morne Morkel, Umesh Yadav, Andre Russell, Kuldeep Yadav, Pat Cummins, Johan Botha, Azhar Mahmood, Brad Hogg, Sumit Narwal, Sheldon Jackson, Aditya Garhwal, Kishan Cariappa, Vaibhav Rawal, Veer Pratap Singh