Mumbai Indians and Royal Challengers Bangalore lock horns in a must win encounter for both teams as they aim to secure a berth in this season’s play off spots.
Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) take on the Mumbai Indians (MI) in match 31 of the Indian Premier League (IPL) at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru on Tuesday.
The last time these two teams met, Mumbai went on to register their first win of IPL 2018, as captain Rohit Sharma led from the front scoring 94 off just 52 balls.
RCB will come into this game in low spirits after back to back defeats first against Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and then against the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) have seen them fall to seventh position on the points table. RCB have been putting in good performances with the bat but their bowling attack haven’t been able to get the team across the line. Captain Virat Kohli scored an unbeaten 68 against the Knight Riders but still saw his team lose by 6 wickets.
MI will come into this game in high spirits after beating table toppers Chennai in their previous outing. Mumbai first restricted Chennai to just 169 in their 20 overs and then chased down the total with ease as they were led by captain Rohit Sharma who scored an unbeaten 56 helping his team to an eight wicket victory.
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With both teams struggling at the bottom of the table this is a must win encounter for both if they wish to secure a berth in the play off spots this season.
Match Details:
Timing – 8 pm
Venue – M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru.
Where to watch – Star Sports 1 & Star Sports 1 HD
Head to Head: Mumbai hold a clear edge over RCB as they have won 14 out of the 22 encounters between the two teams. Among all the IPL teams Mumbai have the most win against the Royal Challengers.
Team news: AB de Villiers who missed the last outing due to illness will be expected to feature if he makes a full recovery in time. If he plays he may replace either de Grandhomme or McCullum in the line-up.
Mumbai Indians who won their last match against CSK will be expected to feature the same team without any forced changes.
Prediction: Who will win?
While RCB have performed exceedingly well with the bat, it is their bowling department which has been a major concern. Mumbai on the other hand have put in good performances with both bat and ball and have fallen short only in the last overs of the games that they’ve lost. With a better all-round performance so far, Mumbai hold the edge going into the game this evening.
Stadium Pitch Report: The pitch here is known to assist the batsmen with the ball coming nicely onto the bat and the smaller boundaries helping them clear the ropes much more easily. However, there is also much on offer for the spinners on this track.
Moneycontrol Dream 11: Q de Kock (wk), V Kohli, R Sharma, AB de Villiers, S Yadav, K Pandya, H Pandya, M Markande, Y Chahal, U Yadav and J Bumrah.
Players to watch out for:
Virat Kohli (RCB): Kohli has been leading from the front this season, however his team’s bowling hasn’t been able to convert the good starts into victories. In his last game here, he scored an unbeaten 68 off just 44 balls and will be expected to replicate that performance again tonight.
Rohit Sharma (MI): The Mumbai skipper too has been brilliant in certain games, finding his form again in their last fixture against the Super Kings. He led his team to victory with an unbeaten 56 from 33 balls and the MI fans will be hoping to see more of that again this evening.
IPL points table:
Both teams find themselves languishing in the bottom half of the table with just four points from their seven games this season. A win for either team will take them up to fifth position on the table.
Catch the updated points table here.