Rajasthan Royals will be keen to end their losing streak when they face an in-form Mumbai Indians in the Indian Premier League on Tuesday.
Starting with a bang with two impressive wins in Sharjah on a conducive batting surface, Royals have hit a slump on the bigger grounds of Dubai and Abu Dhabi.
Mumbai Indians, on the other hand, have been solid in their last couple of games. After a Super Over defeat to Royal Challengers Bangalore, the defending champions bounced back to defeat Kings XI Punjab and Sunrisers Hyderabad by 48 and 34 runs respectively.
MI in IPL 2020
| Match | Day/Date/Time | Venue | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| MI vs CSK | 19 Sep | Abu Dhabi | MI lost by 5 wickets |
| KKR vs MI | 23 Sep | Abu Dhabi | MI won by 49 runs |
| RCB vs MI | 28 Sep | Dubai | MI lost in Super Over |
| KXIP vs MI | 1 Oct | Abu Dhabi | MI won by 48 runs |
| MI vs SRH | 4 Oct | Sharjah | MI won by 34 runs |
RR in IPL 2020
| Match | Date | Venue | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| RR vs CSK | 22 Sep | Sharjah | RR won by 16 runs |
| RR vs KXIP | 27 Sep | Sharjah | RR won by 4 wickets |
| RR vs KKR | 30 Sep | Dubai | RR lost by 37 runs |
| RCB vs RR | 3 Oct | Abu Dhabi | RR lost by 8 wickets |
Mumbai have looked strong overall with skipper Rohit Sharma (176 runs) in good touch. The rest of the batting order has also made match-winning contributions. Quinton de Kock, Kieron Pollard, Ishan Kishan, Hardik Pandya, and Krunal Pandya have all been among the runs with Suryakumar Yadav also looking in good touch, if unable to convert starts.
In the bowling department, Australia pacer James Pattinson (7 wickets) has been impressive with Jasprit Bumrah (on and off) and Trent Boult contributing as well. Rahul Chahar and Krunal could play a crucial role against RR in Abu Dhabi.
In contrast, Royals would like to arrest the slide before Ben Stokes completes his quarantine and is available from October 11 onward.
One of the biggest concerns for them is the form of Jos Buttler (47 runs from 3 games). Skipper Steve Smith might be tempted to drop himself down the order and bring back Yashasvi Jaiswal at the top, since Robin Uthappa and Riyan Parag have struggled for form.
Among the bowlers, Jaydev Unadkat has seemed unsure of his role and has not been effective in either the powerplay or at the death, which leaves Tom Curran and Jofra Archer with a lot of heavy lifting to do.
Smith may try out the experienced Varun Aaron who has a lot more pace than Unadkat or the young Kartik Tyagi who can also swing the ball at pace.
It is worth noting that Royals are bit of a bogey side for Rohit Sharma and he will want to improve his record against them.
Head-to-head
| Matches | MI won | RR won | Tied | MI win% | RR win% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MI vs RR | 20 | 10 | 10 | 0 | 50.00 | 50.00 |
Squads
MI squad
| Batsmen | Bowlers | All-rounders | Wicketkeepers |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rohit Sharma | Dhawal Kulkarni | Hardik Pandya | Ishan Kishan |
| Sherfane Rutherford | Jasprit Bumrah | Jayant Yadav | Quinton de Kock |
| Suryakumar Yadav | James Pattinson | Kieron Pollard | Aditya Tare |
| Anmolpreet Singh | Mitchell McClenaghan | Krunal Pandya | |
| Chris Lynn | Rahul Chahar | Anukul Roy | |
| Saurabh Tiwary | Trent Boult | Digvijay Deshmukh | |
| Nathan Coulter-Nile | Prince Balwant Rai Singh | ||
| Mohsin Khan |
RR squad
| Batsmen | Bowlers | All-rounders | Wicketkeepers |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mahipal Lomror | Ankit Rajpoot | Shreyas Gopal | Jos Buttler |
| Manan Vohra | Mayank Markande | Ben Stokes | Robin Uthappa |
| Riyan Parag | Jofra Archer | Rahul Tewatia | Sanju Samson |
| David Miller | Varun Aaron | Shashank Singh | Anuj Rawat |
| Steve Smith | Jaydev Unadkat | Anirudha Joshi | |
| Yashasvi Jaiswal | Kartik Tyagi | ||
| Akash Singh | |||
| Andrew Tye | |||
| Oshane Thomas | |||
| Tom Curran |
Match starts at 1930 IST and will be broadcast on the Star Sports network and Disney+Hotstar
(With PTI inputs)
