With the 13th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) reaching its business end, all remaining fixtures of the tournament holds significance, when it comes to the points table.
The 45th game of the round-robin league stage is scheduled between Rajasthan Royals (RR) and Mumbai Indians (MI) at Abu Dhabi.
MI has looked formidable and well-balanced in this tournament and is coming off a thumping 10 wicket-win against arch-rivals Chennai Super Kings (CSK). They have lost only one double super-over game in their last five matches of the tournament.
With an incredible Net Run-rate of +1.448, MI, with 14 points in 10 games is currently on top of the table. The Ambani-owned franchise should expect the team to seal the top spot in the same by the end of the league stage.
Meanwhile, RR has been highly inconsistent during the competition, and is coming off a demoralizing 8-wicket defeat against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH).
With three losses in the last five games, RR is languishing at the seventh place, with just 8 points in 11 games. Therefore, RR must win all their remaining games to keep in contention for the fourth spot in the points table.
It remains a mystery whether Captain Rohit Sharma will feature in the upcoming game. The MI skipper missed out on the game against their arch-rivals, CSK.
Rohit sustained an injury during the nail-biting contest against Kings XI Punjab (KXIP). The rest of the team is expected to remain unchanged.
The key for Royals remains their overseas contingent with the bat. The RR’s have to work on their batting order, swapping Jos Buttler with Ben Stokes. Jofra Archer’s hostile spells with the new ball shall be crucial in the context of the game.
None of the Indian talent, barring Rahul Tewatia, has been able to play out of their skins. Now is the time for the likes of Robin Uthappa, Riyan Parag, Shreyas Gopal and Kartik Tyagi to step up and support the star players in the squad.
Predicted XI:
RR: Jos Buttler, Robin Uthappa, Sanju Samson (wk), Steven Smith (c), Ben Stokes,Riyan Parag, Rahul Tewatia, Jofra Archer, Shreyas Gopal, Ankit Rajpoot, Kartik Tyagi
MI: Quinton de Kock (wk), Rohit Sharma (c), Suryakumar Yadav, Ishan Kishan, Hardik Pandya, Kieron Pollard, Krunal Pandya, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Rahul Chahar, Trent Boult, Jasprit Bumrah
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