With the winning momentum back into their stride, defending champions Mumbai Indians would look to have the advantage of their home ‘˜fortress’ once again when Virat Kohli’s Royal Challengers Bangalore visit them on Tuesday.
With the winning momentum back into their stride, defending champions Mumbai Indians would look to have the advantage of their home ‘fortress’ once again when Virat Kohli’s Royal Challengers Bangalore visit them on Tuesday. Mumbai Indians witnessed a dreadful outing in the UAE where they went on a winless run in five games played. But now back on the familiar territory, Rohit Sharma-led MI would look grab yet another win and put the winless five match streak behind them.
Wankhede stadium was a mini ‘fortress’ for MI outfit which could not be breached by any single IPL side as Mumbai won all of the eight games here last year and the title holders certainly enjoyed the home advantage against the Kings XI Punjab when MI secured their first win after five losses and got the monkey off their back.
Rohit Sharma and co. are still trying to figure a solid pair at the top to give them a good start but none has yielded the required result. The middle-order that boasts the likes of New Zealand`s Corey Anderson and West Indies all-rounder Kieron Pollard, have looked strong in the last few games but need to be consistent. Pollard has been in good form in the last two games with his scorching knock of 48-ball 78 against Sunrisers Hyderabad and an unbeaten 12-ball 28 against KXIP that won them the match.
Mumbai’s bowling attack comprising Lasith Malinga (9 wickets) and Zaheer Khan (5 wickets) has fared better however, question mark looms over the availability of Zaheer Khan for the RCB game. RCB, on the other hand, would be buoyed by that thumping win over the Sunrisers Hyderabad as they gear up to take the challenge of defeating Mumbai on their own backyard. It would be tall ask for Mumbai bowlers to restrict RCB’s strong batting line-up that boasts the likes of Chris Gayle, Virat Kohli, Yuvraj Singh and AB de Villiers.
Even though the skipper Kohli has not found form coming his way, the 25-year old might do so against the MI outfit. The man in-form will be AB de Villiers who produced one of the most breathtaking knocks against the Sunrisers on Sunday when he smashed an unbeaten 89 from just 42 balls to single-handedly power RCB to a sensational four-wicket win.
RCB bowling attack looks a balanced one on paper with Varun Aaron (10 wickets), Mitchell Starc (9 wickets) and leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal (7 wickets) up their ranks. With Mumbai’s home advantage on their side, Royal Challengers Bangalore has a tough task to breach those conditions.
Teams:
Royal Challengers Bangalore: Virat Kohli (C), Chris Gayle, AB de Villiers, Yuvraj Singh, Parthiv Patel, Albie Morkel, Mitchell Starc, Ashok Dinda, Ravi Rampaul, Muttiah Muralitharan, Nic Maddinson, Varun Aaron, Vijay, Sachin Rana, Yogesh Takawale, Abu Nechim Ahmed, Yuzvendra Chahal, Shadab Jakati, Sandeep Warrier, Harshal Patel, Tanmay Mishra.
Mumbai Indians: Rohit Sharma (C), Lasith Malinga, Kieron Pollard, Harbhajan Singh, Ambati Rayudu, Michael Hussey, Zaheer Khan, Pragyan Ojha, Corey Anderson, Josh Hazlewood, CM Gautam, Aditya Tare, Apoorv Wankhade, Marchant de Lange, Krishmar Santokie, Ben Dunk, Pawan Suyal, Sushant Marathe, Jasprit Bumrah, Shreyas Gopal, Lendl Simmons.
