Mumbai Indians will aim to secure a playoffs berth while Kolkata Knight Riders will try to avoid a seventh straight defeat to them when the two teams clash in the Indian Premier League on Sunday.

KKR find themselves in the middle of a sensational losing streak. This, despite all-rounder Andre Russell being one of the most impactful players in the tournament this year. Dinesh Karthik and Co were at the top of the table after their win over the Rajasthan Royals on April 7, but things have only gone south for them since.

For Mumbai, skipper Rohit Sharma roared back to form with his first half-century of the IPL as they crushed Mahendra Singh Dhoni-less Chennai Super Kings by 46 runs on Friday.

One win away from assuring their last-four berth, Mumbai Indians will look forward to take on Kolkata Knight Riders – against whom they have an eight-match winning streak and hold an 18-5 head-to-head record. The last time KKR had won against MI was four years ago.

With three matches left in the league stage, the two teams clash for the first time this season on Sunday, with the return leg slated for May 5.

KKR on the brink

Karthik led from the front with a career-best 97 not out to set a challenging 176 target for Rajasthan Royals at the Eden Gardens in the last match as they looked to snap their losing streak but their pacers came a cropper and the visitors secured a thrilling three-wicket win.

Starting at elimination, KKR would hope for their batting and bowling to click as a unit with just three matches to go.

At the moment nothing is going in favour of the Shah Rukh Khan-owned franchise, something that reminds one of their disastrous show in 2009 when the team had lost nine in a row, in a 10-match winless run.

This will be KKR’s last home match of the season and the team will look to win it for the fans who have come in huge numbers and packed the stadium in every match.

Mumbai Indians, on the other hand, will look at captain Rohit to give them a flying start.

Head to Head in IPL

Overall: Matches – 23, Kolkata Knight Riders – 5, Mumbai Indians – 18.

Since 2015: Matches – 9, Kolkata Knight Riders – 1, Mumbai Indians – 8.

Remaining Fixtures

For Kolkata Knight Riders: May 3 - vs Kings XI Punjab in Mohali, May 5 – vs Mumbai Indians in Mumbai.

For Mumbai Indians: May 2 – vs Sunrisers Hyderabad in Mumbai, May 5 – vs Kolkata Knight Riders in Mumbai.

Squads

Kolkata Knight Riders: Dinesh Karthik [c], Robin Uthappa, Chris Lynn, Shubman Gill, Andre Russell, Carlos Brathwaite, Sunil Narine, Piyush Chawla, Kuldeep Yadav, Nikhil Naik, Joe Denly, Shrikant Mundhe, Nitish Rana, Sandeep Warrier, Prasidh Krishna, Lockie Ferguson, Harry Gurney, Matt Kelly, KC Cariappa and Yarra Prithviraj.

Mumbai Indians: Rohit Sharma [c], Quinton de Kock, Suryakumar Yadav, Yuvraj Singh, Kieron Pollard, Hardik Pandya, Krunal Pandya, Mitchell McClenaghan, Jason Behrendorff, Mayank Markande, Rahul Chahar, Jasprit Bumrah, Anmolpreet Singh, Siddhesh Lad, Ankul Roy, Evin Lewis, Pankaj Jaiswal, Ben Cutting, Ishan Kishan, Aditya Tare, Rasikh Salam, Barinder Sran, Jayant Yadav, Beuran Hendricks.

Match starts at 8 pm IST.

[Inputs from PTI and iplt20.com]