IPL 2023: MI vs RCB, Today Match Prediction - Rohit Sharma's Mumbai Indians and Virat Kohli starrer Royal Challengers Bangalore face each other in the 54th match of IPL 2023 at Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. Two Indian icons will be up against each other as they bid to take their teams into the top half of the points table. While RCB sit on 5th place, MI occupy the 8th spot in the standings. Let's see how these two can fare against each other.
Will RCB's approach help them go clear of the middle muddle?
RCB's big three - Virat Kohli, Faf du Plessis and Glenn Maxwell have done the heavy lifting so far. There have been discussions going around the approach of their batting, especially with Kohli slowing a bit after the powerplay. However, they have hardly any options other than playing safe as their middle order has not made big contributions. This approach has helped win 5 games in 10 outings in the season. But with the tournament going into the business end of it, will RCB bank on the same approach or is anything different in the pipeline to help them go clear of the middle muddle? Notably, Mahipal Lomror's blistering fifty in the last game might help them change their tactics a bit.
MI have deadly middle order but what about Rohit?
On the contrary, MI have a strong middle order. The likes of Tim David, Suryakumar Yadav and Tilak Varma have helped them finish crunch games. David has scored 179 runs in the season at a strike of over 167. Yadav has also returned to his best and Varma is showing his worth as well. But they would be hoping that their skipper Rohit Sharma returns to the best. Sharma has bagged two consecutive ducks in the previous two games and might be itching to return to runs.
Also, MI have named Chris Jordan as Jofra Archer's replacement for the remainder of IPL 2023 as Archer is heading back for rehab post-surgery. It will be interesting to see whether MI will bring Jordan in or Jason Behrendorff.
Pitch and weather
The surface at the Wankhede Stadium helps batters go big. There have been many high-scoring games here this season and another one shall be on the cards. Also, the ground dimensions are not big enough for batters to keep their hands tight.
The weather is expected to be partly cloudy in the evening. There is only 4% rain predicted while the cloud cover is expected to be around 97%. We shall get a full game.
Best batter Prediction: Suryakumar Yadav can be a batter to watch out for. He has a decent record at Wankhede and has hit 662 runs in 23 games. He strikes at 145+ and has 5 fifties to his name at the venue. He also has a good record against RCB's best new-ball bowler Mohammed Siraj and has hit him for 48 runs in 22 balls at a strike rate of over 218.
Best bowler Prediction: Josh Hazlewood can be a bowler to watch out for. The surface has a bounce and Hazlewood's Test match-type bowling can surely trouble the MI batters. His good-length balls can be hard to hit.
Match Winner Prediction: Mumbai Indians (MI)
