Mumbai Indians and Royal Challengers Bengaluru are set to face each other in the 25th match of the Indian Prmeier league (IPL) at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. Both teams have endured tough times in this season with only a solitary win to show for their efforts. In fact, RCB are desperate to add two points to their tally having lost four out of five matches.
On the other hand, even the five-time champions lost three matches before beating Delhi Capitals (DC) in a high-scoring encounter. Team selection is being highlighted as a major issue in RCB with players like Vijaykumar Vyshak, Will Jacks warming bench. Moreover, some of the decisions from the management have also attracted a lot of criticism and it remains to be seen if they make changes for this crucial game.
Meawnhile, MI skipper Hardik Pandya hinted at keeping the same combination for the majority of the season going forward this season after winning against DC. Romario Shepherd clicking as an all-rounder has certainly boosted them as they will be looking to continue their winning run.
Wankhede Stadium pitch report
The iconic Wankhede Stadium might have hosted two matches this season so far but in the only evening encounter that was played, the new ball swung in both innings and the side batting first (MI) could only post 125 runs for the loss of nine wickets in their 20 overs. The target was chased down in less than 16 overs but the chasing side was three down for less than 50 runs at one stage. With the MI vs RCB clash starting at 7:30 PM IST, expect new ball to make the difference yet again and the side winning the toss should opt to bowl first. Interestingly, last year at the same venue, MI chased down the target of 200 runs against RCB comfortably.
MI vs RCB - Wankhede Stadium IPL T20 matches numbers game (last 5 matches played in evening)
Matches Played - 5
Batting first team won - 2
Batting second team won - 3
Average first innings score - 194
Highest score batting first - 214 by PBKS vs MI
Squads
Mumbai Indians: Hardik Pandya (c), Rohit Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav, Dewald Brevis, Jasprit Bumrah, Piyush Chawla, Gerald Coetzee, Tim David, Shreyas Gopal, Ishan Kishan (wk), Anshul Kamboj, Kumar Kartikeya, Akash Madhwal, Kwena Maphaka, Mohammad Nabi, Shams Mulani, Naman Dhir, Shivalik Sharma, Romario Shepherd, Arjun Tendulkar, Nuwan Thushara, Tilak Varma, Vishnu Vinod, Nehal Wadhera, Luke Wood.
Royal Challengers Bengaluru: Faf du Plessis (c), Glenn Maxwell, Virat Kohli, Rajat Patidar, Anuj Rawat, Dinesh Karthik, Suyash Prabhudessai, Will Jacks, Mahipal Lomror, Karn Sharma, Manoj Bhandage, Mayank Dagar, Vijaykumar Vyshak, Akash Deep, Mohammed Siraj, Reece Topley, Himanshu Sharma, Rajan Kumar, Cameron Green, Alzarri Joseph, Yash Dayal, Tom Curran, Lockie Ferguson, Swapnil Singh, Saurav Chauhan.
