Royal Challengers Bangalore would look to make amends and go for the kill when they take on Mumbai Indians in a must-win clash in IPL 2018 at Bengaluru on Tuesday. Both the teams are in the same boat, winning two matches out of 7. Another loss would take them closer towards the exit instead of a play-offs berth.
The Royal Challengers Bangalore and Mumbai Indians have had the worst possible start to their IPL season, winning just 2 out of the 6 matches they have played so far. While RCB is seventh on the points table, Mumbai is just above them at sixth place, thanks to their superior net run-rate.
Both the teams have everything they could wish for. World class bowlers, explosive batsmen, and more than decent all-rounders. Yet, there is no sense of sureness in their camps right now. Mumbai and Bangalore, both are forces to be reckoned with, but they have to pull something spectacular to stay in top four.
Source: Hindustan Times
The win against Royal Challengers Bangalore for Mumbai Indians in their fourth game of the season came after three consecutive last-over defeats, against Chennai Super Kings, Sunrisers Hyderabad and Delhi Daredevils. They did not kick on from that win, however, losing in the last over again to Rajasthan Royals and being bowled out for 87 by Sunrisers Hyderabad before their much-needed win against Chennai Super Kings last time. Chennai posted 169/5 from their 20 overs, but Mumbai lost just two wickets as Rohit Sharma led them to victory with two balls to spare.
Source: Cricbuzz.com
On the other hand, RCB still hasn’t found a way to win the matches consistently, and the games on their home ground aren’t helping them either. The Bengaluru pitch is slowing down and offering spinners help, but RCB bowlers are just not equipped with what it is needed to defend a total. In their last match against KKR, with the assist of their top 3 batsmen, they scored 175. In the process, Kohli was just his usual phenomenal self. While bowling, only Chahal and Southee were economical. Although Siraj took two wickets, he gave away 40 runs in his 4 overs quota.
RCB VS MI TEAM NEWS
Royal Challengers Bangalore
Mumbai Indians
RCB VS MI KEY PLAYERS
Royal Challengers Bangalore:
Mumbai Indians:
Probable Playing XI :
Royal Challengers Bangalore: Quinton De Kock (wk), Virat Kohli (c), AB de Villiers/Brendon McCullum, Mandeep Singh, Manan Vohra/Pavan Deshpande, Colin De Grandhomme/C Woakes, Murugan Ashwin, Tim Southee, Umesh Yadav, Mohammad Siraj/Aniket Choudhary/Navdeep Saini, Yuzvendra Chahal
Mumbai Indians: Surya Kumar Yadav, Ewin Lewis, Rohit Sharma (c), Ishan Kishan (wk), Hardik Pandya, JP Duminy, Krunal Pandya, Ben Cutting/M Rahman, Mitchell McClenaghan, Mayank Markande, Jasprit Bumrah
Prediction
Although RCB would be playing at home, they have not been up to mark as they have struggled to defend totals or contain the opposition from scoring high scores. Mumbai have won the home clash against RCB with Rohit Sharma cracking a brilliant fifty. We believe Mumbai would be motivated to get ahead of RCB in this clash. We think it will be Mumbai’s match.