Mumbai Indians will face off Rajasthan Royals in match 20 of IPL 2020 on Tuesday, October 6 in Abu Dhabi. This is Mumbai’s third match at this venue and the second for the Royals. Both teams come into this contest with contrasting fortunes.
While Mumbai have won their last two games, the Royals have lost their last two after starting off with a bang in their first two. They are also polar opposites as far as their standings in the IPL points table is concerned as well. More about the Mumbai Indians vs Rajasthan Royals Preview in detail below.
Mumbai Indians have looked the best among all the teams so far in this IPL. They have got every aspect of the game covered with the franchise sticking to their first XI almost every game. This can be said from the way they backed Quinton De Kock in this tournament so far. After failing in the first few matches De Kock scored a matchwinning 67 against Sunrisers Hyderabad to give his team a good start after the early fall of Rohit Sharma.
Krunal Pandya shown for the Mumbai Indians, after Kieron Pollard and Hardik Pandya finished games for them in the first few games. The left-handed all-rounder scored 20 off just four balls against SRH and contributed with the ball as well.
The trio of Jasprit Bumrah, Trent Boult and James Pattinson has been consistent with the ball for the team. One of them has always put his hand up to do the job for his team. Boult is third in the wicket-takers list for 2020 with eight wickets from five games. They are much balanced as a team than their opponents Rajasthan Royals heading into this encounter.
Also Read: Great To Have Pollard, Hardik, And Krunal On Our Side – Rohit Sharma
Rajasthan Royals Ready For Mumbai Indians Challenge
Rajasthan Royals, on the other hand, have their backs against the wall. They have lost two of their previous games against KKR and RCB. The duo of Steve Smith and Sanju Samson after starting off on a good note have tapered off a little bit. Jos Buttler is yet to get going for the Royals.
Meanwhile, their star all-rounder Ben Stokes has reached Dubai but will miss this game as he is undergoing mandatory six-day quarantine. He will be available for Rajasthan’s next game against Delhi Capitals on Friday.
Robin Uthappa not contributing with the bat in the middle-order has also cost them big. Meanwhile, Rahul Tewatia is has failed to produce his Sharjah magic.
As far as the Rajasthan bowling is concerned, there is way too much reliance on Jofra Archer at the top. He needs support from the rest of the bowlers to deliver the results for Rajasthan.
Head to Head: Rajasthan Royals vs Mumbai Indians
There is nothing much to separate these two teams in their head to head contest. Both teams have won 11 each out of the 23 games played so far. One game ended in no result. However, Rajasthan has won four of the last five games played between both sides.
Interestingly, Mumbai last beat Rajasthan in 2015. They have lost all the four games played between the 2018-19 season.
Pitch & Weather Conditions
Weather conditions are expected to be hot and humid as usual in Abu Dhabi. Countering the heat will be an issue for both teams. There were chances of rain, however, that did not happen. With CSK showing the template to chase a score down on Sunday night, it will be interesting to see if the captain who wins the toss decides to chase.
Meanwhile, Mumbai have looked better while setting a score so far in this season and Royals have favoured chasing.
Team News
Ben Stokes is available for selection for the next game and walks in straight for Tom Curran to restore Rajasthan’s core. Robin Uthappa after his continuous failures is likely to be replaced by Manan Vohra who is an opener. This might see, Steve Smith drop-down at number four with Sanju Samson coming in at number three.
Mumbai Indians, would not like to break the formulae that have been working for them.
Squads
Rajasthan Royals
Ankit Rajpoot, Ben Stokes, Jofra Archer, Jos Buttler, Mahipal Lomror, Manan Vohra, Mayank Markande, Rahul Tewatia, Riyan Parag, Sanju Samson, Shashank Singh, Shreyas Gopal, Steven Smith, Varun Aaron, Akash Singh, Anirudha Joshi, Anuj Rawat, Andrew Tye, David Miller, Jaydev Unadkat, Kartik Tyagi, Oshane Thomas, Robin Uthappa, Tom Curran, Yashasvi Jaiswal
Mumbai Indians
Aditya Tare, Anmolpreet Singh, Anukul Roy, Dhawal Kulkarni, Hardik Pandya, Ishan Kishan, Jasprit Bumrah, Jayant Yadav, Kieron Pollard, Krunal Pandya, Lasith Malinga, Mitchell McCleneghan, Quinton de Kock, Rahul Chahar, Rohit Sharma, Sherfane Rutherford, Suryakumar Yadav, Trent Boult, Chris Lynn, Digvijay Deshmukh, Mohsin Khan, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Prince Balwant Rai Singh, Saurabh Tiwary
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