Royal Challengers Bangalore’s performance this year has been confusing as well as frustrating. Regular collapses for a batting order packed with stars is a strange sight.

It has been a dreary sight looking at the shot selection of the batsmen. Fast-tracked from injury, skipper Virat Kohli has tried his best to influence proceedings. With his batters letting him down with such alarming regularity, there is little he can do. On the bright side, his bowlers have been tidy in a department that was found wanting last season.

There will probably not be any backdoor entry to the qualifiers this season for RCB. Pride is what is at stake and a good finish. They need to settle in with their lower middle-order combination, though.

Meanwhile, Mumbai Indians are enjoying one of their best opening spells in recent years, and may well finish at the top of the table. Not too dissimilar to Kolkata Knight Riders, Mumbai love chasing. As for RCB, they can only hope that their luck changes. They had Mumbai on the mat the last time they faced, only for Kieran Pollard to play one of the best knocks of his career and take his team home.

Time: 4 pm

Venue: Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai

TV: Sony Max, Sony Six, Sony ESPN and their HD channels

Head-to-Head since 2016

Played: 3

Mumbai: 3

Bangalore: 0

Mumbai Indians

  • Mumbai have won their last three games against Bangalore. They managed a miraculous victory last time around against RCB after Samuel Badree had run through their top order.
  • Mumbai batsmen have hit the most number of sixes this season – 68. Their bowlers have also conceded the least number of boundaries.  
  • Pollard has scored more runs against RCB than any other team, bringing up 436 runs from 17 games at an extraordinary strike rate of 165.  

Squad: Rohit Sharma (c), Kieron Pollard, Lasith Malinga, Harbhajan Singh, Ambati Rayudu, Jasprit Bumrah, Shreyas Gopal, Lendl Simmons, Vinay Kumar, Parthiv Patel, Mitchell McClenaghan, Nitish Rana, Siddhesh Lad, Jagadeesha Suchith, Hardik Pandya, Jos Buttler, Tim Southee, Jitesh Sharma, Krunal Pandya, Deepak Punia, Saurabh Tiwary, Nicholas Pooran, Mitchell Johnson, Karn Sharma, Asela Gunaratne, Krishnappa Gowtham, Kulwant Khejroliya.

Royal Challengers Bangalore

  • RCB’s miserable season has been punctuated with them possessing the lowest scoring rate (7.69). They had the highest last season, getting their runs at more than nine per over. 
  • South African batting maestro AB de Villiers has registered three single digit scores this season.

Squad: Virat Kohli (captain), AB de Villiers, Chris Gayle, Yuzvendra Chahal, Harshal Patel, Mandeep Singh, Adam Milne, Vishnu Vinod, Sreenath Arvind, Kedar Jadhav (wk), Shane Watson, Stuart Binny, Samuel Badree, Iqbal Abdulla, Travis Head, Sachin Baby, Avesh Khan, Tabraiz Shamsi, Tymal Mills, Aniket Chaudhary, Praveen Dubey, Billy Stanlake.