IPL 2020: Rajasthan Royals vs Mumbai Indians Preview - MI Aim Top 2 Finish, RR Look to Stay Alive

One team that's aiming to finish in the top 2. One team that depends on mathematical probabilities for their play-offs hopes, which are all but over. Mumbai Indians the former, Rajasthan Royals the latter. The two sides will meet on Sunday evening in Abu Dhabi.

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The two teams had already clashed once in the same venue earlier in the tournament, and unsurprisingly, Mumbai won easily. Unless RR lift their game drastically, an encore will be a high possibility on Sunday as well.

Mumbai have won 7 off their 10 games, while Rajasthan have won 4 of their 11. Mumbai are coming off a thumping victory over Chennai Super Kings, while Rajasthan are coming off a thumping defeat to Sunrisers Hyderabad.

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Mumbai Indians

A team on a roll that has players for all conditions, situations and even emergencies. One such emergency requirement was Rohit Sharma missing out the game against CSK due to a hamstring injury, but he was hardly missed - as a captain or batsman. Kieron Pollard took charge as leader and CSK were kept to 114 for 9. Ishan Kishan was promoted as opener and he smacked a half-century as MI won by 10 wickets.

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Given their form and position in table, it's likely that MI will not risk Rohit for this game as well. In fact, it's unlikely that they'll make any change unless they want to rest a pacer for workload issues. Will it be Trent Boult, who was in great rhythm against CSK picking up 4 for 18? Might not. Or Jasprit Bumrah, who is having a resurgence after a modest start to the tournament? MI might take that route after sealing a top-two spot.

MI's batting depth was not required against CSK. They might hope for more batting time for the Pandyas and Pollards.

Predicted XI: Ishan Kishan, Quinton de Kock, Suryakumar Yadav, Saurabh Tiwary, Krunal Pandya, Hardik Pandya, Kieron Pollard, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Rahul Chahar, Jasprit Bumrah, Trent Boult

Rajasthan Royals

RR seemed to have given themselves a big chance after defeating CSK comfortably, but all the hopes were dashed when they lost to Sunrisers Hyderabad in their next game. They're still in contention, but for that to happen, they have to win all their games first. Starting with MI.

RR have to sort out their batting order. Will Ben Stokes continue to open? He has been struggling for momentum at the top but RR have persisted with him while pushing Jos Buttler down the order. Buttler made a half-century against MI in the previous clash, and should ideally be back at the top. Will it happen? The likes of Sanju Samson and Steve Smith have not set the tournament on fire, which has hurt them too.

RR's bowling is thin barring Jofra Archer. The lack of options came to the fore in the SRH game, where they struggled despite Archer giving them two early wickets. A stiff job awaits them against a power-packed MI batting line up.

Predicted XI: Ben Stokes, Robin Uthappa, Sanju Samson(w), Steven Smith(c), Jos Buttler, Riyan Parag, Rahul Tewatia, Jofra Archer, Shreyas Gopal, Ankit Rajpoot, Kartik Tyagi

WHAT: IPL 2020, Match 45

WHEN: October 22, 7:30PM IST

WHERE: Abu Dhabi

TELECAST: Star Sports Network

LIVE STREAMING: Disney + Hotstar

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