Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and Mumbai Indians (MI) will lock horns in the 65th match of the Indian Premier League 2026 tonight. The encounter will be played at the Eden Gardens Stadium in Kolkata. While the Mumbai Indians have been eliminated from the IPL 2026, KKR still has a slim chance of making it to the top 4. Kolkata needs to win its remaining two matches to keep its playoff hopes alive.

In their previous game against the Punjab Kings, Mumbai were short of captain Hardik Pandya and vice-captain Suryakumar Yadav. While Pandya has missed the last three games due to a back spasm, Yadav was unavailable from the previous clash due to personal reasons.

In a major boost for MI, Suryakumar Yadav is set to return for the clash against KKR. Moreover, captain Hardik Pandya is also expected to return after recovering from his back spasm.

After missing MI’s previous match, Yadav joined the team in Kolkata and took part in the team’s practice sessions. The franchise shared videos of the training session on social media, in which Surya was seen practising. Pandya last played in the clash against Chennai Super Kings on May 2. Suryakumar captained the side in his absence in the clashes against LSG and RCB. In the previous game against PBKS, Jasprit Bumrah was the stand-in captain.

Meanwhile, both Hardik and Suryakumar have struggled to perform in IPL 2026. In eight games, Pandya has scored 146 runs at a poor average of 20.86. He has taken four wickets at an economy of 11.90. Suryakumar has scored just 195 runs in 11 games with one half-century. He got cheaply for low scores in many games.

Moreover, Mumbai is placed ninth in the points table with just four victories and eight defeats out of 12 matches. They have two more games left in the league stage. After the clash against KKR, they will take on the Rajasthan Royals in their last match on May 24.