IPL 2024: Predicting 3 players who could pick up the most wickets in today's KKR vs MI match

After Chennai Super Kings (CSK)'s loss to Gujarat Titans (GT) on Friday, today's match between Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and Mumbai Indians (MI) is one of the only matches left that won't have an impact on the playoff race.

However, it doesn't mean that the Eden Gardens won't see anything on the line. While top-placed KKR will try to get a double on bitter rivals MI and become the first team to officially seal a playoff spot, in-form MI will smell revenge and put their best effort to avoid finishing at the bottom of the table.

Below, after considering the match-ups, pitch conditions, and more we have predicted three bowlers who can make the opposition's life difficult.

#3 Harshit Rana

KKR's highest wicket-taking fast-bowler Harshit Rana in IPL 2024 missed the reverse fixture at the Wankhede due to his one-match ban for celebrating a wicket. But in his first game back away at Lucknow Super Giants (LSG), he displayed his mentality by picking up three wickets for 24 runs in 3.1 overs.

Like LSG, MI too have a shaky lower order. Harshit's death-overs skills go up a notch at the Eden due to the grip in the pitch and helpful boundary sizes. But more importantly, at Eden, he also takes wickets with the new ball and in the middle overs due to the extra bounce he generates thanks to his height.

In KKR's last match at Eden, MI would need to be at their best to not give him too many wickets.

#2 Jasprit Bumrah

Throughout the season, it has been Jasprit Bumrah or bust for MI. That has been their biggest issue but it would remain the same at Eden. There have been no indications that the franchise would rest him after being eliminated and Bumrah would thus be KKR's biggest threat to deal with.

In the Wankhede clash, Hardik Pandya rotated his overs, saving most for the death and Bumrah ended up with the best figures of 3/18. He has always done well against KKR, picking 23 wickets in 17 matches at an average of 20.78, including his IPL-best figures of 5/10.

At Wankhede, he took out Venkatesh Iyer and Rinku Singh among KKR batters. But in the past, he has had the edge over Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, and Shreyas Iyer as well. If KKR play the Purple Cap holder out without too many hiccups, that would be as good as a point.

#1 Sunil Narine

MI will not only face an Eden Gardens legend - 69 wickets in 58 matches - in Sunil Narine but also the only bowler to have played all games for his franchise in IPL 2024 without going wicketless even once.

At the Wankhede, he played the Bumrah-ish role for KKR, as the strike bowler whose overs were spread out for maximum impact. And he played a massive role in KKR's historic win by getting Rohit Sharma (10th time!) and Nehal Wadhera out.

He already has 25 wickets in 22 matches against MI at an average of 23.44. At Eden, which is seeing a bit of extra turn of late, and against a batting lineup that has relied on Suryakumar Yadav to bail them out against spin, this might be the game where Narine adds a lot of wickets to his tally.