Considering the lusterless form of the Virat Kohli-led Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in this year’s Indian Premier League (IPL), it won’t be too difficult for Mumbai Indians (MI) to beat them at home and take 2-point leads to consolidate their position at the numero uno spot in the IPL points table.
IPL 2017 Live Score: Mumbai Indians vs Royal Challengers Bangalore #IPL
RCB’s have literally lost all chances to enter play-off round, but they will now play for pride. RCB were the runners-up last season, but their performance is unexpectedly poor this IPL season. First they lost to KKR by 82-runs and it created reverse momentum for them as Kohli and company start losing matches one after another.
Also Read: IPL 2017: Complete fixtures, schedule and time in IST with venue details
Team News for Mumbai Indians (MI)
MI is enjoying its dream season in IPL 2017 winning 7 out of the 9 matches that they played so far. They are closely following KKR as team Kolkata has grabbed the top position at the IPL point table. MI could go up the order if they defeat RCB at home on Monday evening.
In their last low-scoring match against Gujarat Lions, MI came down under pressure as the seven of its batsmen went out at single-digit score. Though Mumbai won the game, but this match will go down in the annals of the history as “Bumrah special”. Had Bumrah not produced such a fantastic super over, GL would have won it convincingly. Taking a cue from the last match, MI won’t take any chance against RCB as losing a match just before the knock out round could literally give a wrong signal to the team.
The bouncy track at Wankhede stadium is expected to give equal opportunity to perform to both MI and RCB. MI’s top order batsmen are in scintillating form but Captain Rohit Sharma needs to regain his form at the earliest. Currently, top 3 MI batsmen; Jos Buttler, Parthiv Patel and Nitish Rana are competing to grab Orange Cap.
Team News for Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB)
RCB are now almost out of play-off round. But they will play to salvage some pride. RCB had suffered another big blow when Smith-led RPS defeated it way too easily at Pune a day back in their last outing. Batting first, RPS set a target of 158 for RCB which the latter miserably failed to achieve and eventually scoring 96/9 after 20 overs.
For RCB, it will be a last opportunity to showcase their strength in front of Mumbai crowd. Both Kohli and Ab De Villiers would be looking forward to play big knocks in Mumbai as both of them have failed to play well in RCB’s last three games. Much will also depend upon how Samuel Badree bowls to MI’s batsmen.
Badree has to specially stay cautious from his own Caribbean team mate Kieron Pollard as the pinch hitter has managed to score 436 runs in 17 matches against RCB at a strike rate of 165.
Predicted Playing XI (Both Teams)
Mumbai Indians (MI): Rohit Sharma (Captain), Mitchel Johnsohn, Mitchell McClenghan, Nitish Rana, Parthiv Patel (Wicket-keeper), Krunal Pandya, Keiron Pollard, Hardik Pandya, Harbhajan Singh, Jaspreet Bumrah and Jos Buttler.
Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB): Chris Gayle, Virat Kohli (Captain), Mandeep Singh, AB de Villiers, Kedar Jadhav(Wicket Keeper), Stuart Binny, Pawan Negi, Samuel Badree, Sreenath Aravind, Yuzvendra Chahal and Tymal Mills.
Head-to-head record: Mumbai Indians (MI) have 12-8 win-loss record against Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB).
Match Result Prediction: Mumbai Indians (MI) will win the match.
Venue: Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai. Match will telecast live on Sony ESPN at 8 PM onwards.
Tags: #IPL, Indian Premier League, IPL 10, IPL 2017, Live Score, MI, Mumbai, Mumbai Indians, RCB, Royal Challengers Bangalore, VIVO IPL, Wankhede Stadium
