After a high-octane clash against Rajasthan Royals (RR) during the by-gone weekend, table-toppers Mumbai Indians (MI) will be ready to bounce back on Wednesday.
They face Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) at Sheikh Zayed Stadium at Abu Dhabi to decide the chronology for the top half of the points table in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2020.
Both MI and RCB are coming off disappointing losses from the weekend. MI lost the game against RR due to sheer brilliance from one man named Ben Stokes.
RCB, on the other hand, lost the match against the bottom-placed side of table, Chennai Super Kings (CSK). Interestingly, MI and RCB lost their match by a margin of eight wickets.
That said, MI and RCB also have one foot into the Playoffs, with 14 points in the bag and three games in hand. Only, net run rate distinguishes the positions of the top three teams in the table.
Absence of captain Rohit Sharma surely is a massive blow to for the MI Paltan. However, the ‘Hitman’ was seen practising in the nets on Monday. Despite posting a daunting total of 195 against RR, stand-in captain Kieron Pollard could not devise a method to stop the flow of runs.
However, hard-hitting Hardik Pandya’s return to form is an ominous sign for the rest of the teams. Pandya struck 60* which came off just 21 deliveries, in an innings laced with seven sixes and a strike-rate of almost 300.
Barring the game against RR, MI’s bowling unit has looked formidable. Overall, MI team management won’t be hitting the panic button just yet.
On the contrary, RCB is coming off a peculiar batting effort against CSK. The batting approach displayed by Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers was a point of discussion in the visibly slow pitch at Dubai.
Abu Dhabi’s surface is expected to be better for the fluent RCB batsmen. Moreover, RCB bowler’s dished out way too many boundary balls against CSK, as conceded by the skipper during the post-match presentation.
The upcoming game, therefore, is all set to be a riveting affair, with both teams eyeing the top spot in the points table.
Predicted XI:
RCB:
Devdutt Padikkal, Aaron Finch, Virat Kohli (c), AB de Villiers (wk), Moeen Ali, Gurkeerat Singh Mann, Chris Morris, Washington Sundar, Navdeep Saini, Mohammed Siraj, Yuzvendra Chahal
MI:
Quinton de Kock (wk), Rohit Sharma (c), Ishan Kishan, Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Kieron Pollard, Krunal Pandya, James Pattinson, Rahul Chahar, Trent Boult, Jasprit Bumrah
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