Mumbai Indians have host Royal Challengers Bangalore in match 48 in IPL 2020, in bu Dhabi. This will be the last game for Mumbai Indians at this venue where they have already won five matches. Both Mumbai and Bangalore are on 14 points and are eyeing to get to 16 points with another win in their bag.
Both teams are coming into this game, on the back of a loss in their respective previous games. While Mumbai lost to Rajasthan Royals, RCB lost to CSK. A win for either side on Wednesday should be enough to take it to the play-offs.
The injury of Rohit Sharma will be the biggest concern of Mumbai Indians, heading into this game. He picked up a hamstring injury and has missed two back matches for his side after their loss against KXIP in the Super Over. Rohit has also not been included in the squads announced by BCCI for India’s upcoming series against Australia, down under.
Rohit also has not been in the best of form this season with the bat. He has scored 260 runs from nine games with two half-centuries to his name. Quinton De Kock (374), Ishan Kishan (298) and Suryakumar Yadav (289) has done the majority of the scoring for Mumbai. Despite his consistency, Suryakumar was not included in any of the Indian squads for the Australia tour. Kieron Pollard and Hardik Pandya has consistently delivered finishing touches to their innings/
Bowling wise, the Mumbai pace trio were taken to the cleaners in their last game against Rajasthan Royals. It was almost an aberration for the highly qualified Mumbai pace-attack. Barring that one game, they have been on point and has taken early breakthroughs consistently.
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Mumbai Indians vs Royal Challengers Bangalore – Round 2
RCB have played two matches at this venue so far. On both occasions, they have registered comfortable victories against oppositions. Virat Kohli (415) and AB De Villiers (324) has done the bulk of the scoring for this side. Aaron Finch (236) and Devdutt Padikkal (343) have given them good support.
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For RCB to win this match against a good Mumbai attack, Bangalore will pin their hopes on the experienced Kohli-De Villiers duo to get some runs. if both get going, they can pummel the opposition bowling into submission.
The wicket-taking onus will be on Yuzvendra Chahal in the middle overs. Mohammed Siraj and Navdeep Saini have been brilliant at the top. However, Saini in all likelihood will miss this match after splitting the webbing of his right hand. Umesh Yadav is expected to replace him.
Head to Head: Mumbai Indians vs Royal Challengers Bangalore
MI are ahead in the head to head-count by 18-10 out of the total 28 matches played between both sides. meanwhile, earlier in the season, RCB beat MI in the Super Over.
Pitch & Weather Conditions
Both teams are familiar with the conditions at this venue, Mumbai perhaps a bit more. Mumbai have mostly batted first after winning the toss, which Kohli has also favoured doing. With bigger ground dimensions and dew playing a part in the second innings, it will be interesting to see what the captains decide after winning the toss.
Team News
Both teams have injury concerns ahead of this game. While Navdeep Saini will miss the match for RCB, Rohit Sharma is more than likely to sit out for his straight third game. Umesh Yadav will replace Saini for RCB, while for Mumbai, the Jharkhand boys Ishan Kishan and Saurabh Tiwary will get another game in Mumbai colours.
Squads
Mumbai Indians
Rohit Sharma (c), Quinton de Kock (wk), Digvijay Deshmukh, Aditya Tare (wk), Saurabh Tiwary, Jasprit Bumrah, Krunal Pandya, Kieron Pollard, Rahul Chahar, Chris Lynn, Hardik Pandya, Sherfane Rutherford, Anmolpreet Singh, Mohsin Khan, Mitchell McClenaghan, Prince Balwant Rai, Anukul Roy, Ishan Kishan, Dhawal Kulkarni, Trent Boult, Jayant Yadav, Suryakumar Yadav, Nathan Coulter-Nile, James Pattinson
Royal Challengers Bangalore
Virat Kohli (c), AB de Villiers, Parthiv Patel (wk), Aaron Finch, Josh Philippe, Chris Morris, Moeen Ali, Mohammed Siraj, Shahbaz Ahmed, Devdutt Padikkal, Yuzvendra Chahal, Navdeep Saini, Dale Steyn, Pawan Negi, Isuru Udana, Shivam Dube, Umesh Yadav, Gurkeerat Singh Mann, Washington Sundar, Pavan Deshpande, Adam Zampa