Rohit Sharma is likely to miss his third game in a row when Mumbai Indians face Royal Challengers Bangalore on Wednesday with both teams aiming to secure their spot in the IPL play-offs.

While Mumbai are sitting on top of the table despite their eight-wicket hammering by Rajasthan Royals with 14 points, Virat Kohli-led RCB too remain on 14 following their loss to Chennai Super Kings on Sunday.

RCb though moved second in the table following DC’s heavy defeat to SRH on Tuesday that led to their net run rate slipping below that of RCB. So it will be a clash between the top two teams on the table

A win for either side on Wednesday should in all likelihood be enough to take it to the playoffs.

MI results in IPL so far

Match Day/Date/Time Venue Result Total points
MI vs CSK 19 Sep, Sat (1930) Abu Dhabi MI lost by 5 wickets 0
KKR vs MI 23 Sep, Wed (1930) Abu Dhabi MI won by 49 runs 2
RCB vs MI 28 Sep, Mon (1930) Dubai MI lost in Super Over  2
KXIP vs MI 1 Oct, Thu (1930) Abu Dhabi MI won by 48 runs 4
MI vs SRH 4 Oct, Sun (1530) Sharjah MI won by 34 runs 6
MI vs RR 6 Oct, Tue (1930) Abu Dhabi MI won by 57 runs 8
MI vs DC 11 Oct, Sun (1930) Abu Dhabi MI won by 5 wickets 10
MI vs KKR 16 Oct, Fri (1930) Abu Dhabi MI won by 8 wickets 12
MI vs KXIP 18 Oct, Sun (1930) Dubai MI lost in Super Over 12
CSK vs MI 23 Oct, Fri (1930) Sharjah MI won by 10 wickets 14
RR vs MI 25 Oct, Sun (1930) Abu Dhabi MI lost by 8 wickets 14

RCB results in IPL so far

Match Day/Date/Time Venue Result Total points for season
SRH vs RCB 21 Sep, Mon (1930) Dubai RCB won by 10 runs 2
KXIP vs RCB 24 Sep, Thu (1930) Dubai RCB lost by 97 runs 2
RCB vs MI 28 Sep, Mon (1930) Dubai RCB won Super Over after a tied match 4
RCB vs RR 3 Oct, Sat (1530) Abu Dhabi RCB won by 8 wickets 6
RCB vs DC 5 Oct, Mon (1930) Dubai RCB lost by 59 runs 6
CSK vs RCB 10 Oct, Sat (1930) Dubai RCB won by 37 runs 8
RCB vs KKR 12 Oct, Mon (1930) Sharjah RCB won by 82 runs 10
RCB vs KXIP 15 Oct, Thu (1930) Sharjah RCB lost by 8 wickets 10
RR vs RCB 17 Oct, Sat (1530) Dubai RCB won by 7 wickets 12
KKR vs RCB 21 Oct, Wed (1930) Abu Dhabi RCB won by 8 wickets 14
RCB vs CSK 25 Oct, Sun (1530) Dubai RCB lost by 8 wickets 14

Rohit Sharma doubt for MI

Rohit’s fitness has become a subject of unwanted attention ahead of the game. Having missed the last two games due to a hamstring injury, Mumbai Indians skipper returned to the nets on Monday, a day when he was not named in the India squad for the Australia series.

There is still no conclusive update on his fitness from either Mumbai Indians or the BCCI.

In Rohit’s absence, Mumbai would persist with both Saurabh Tiwary and Ishan Kishan, who has played some scintillating knocks.

Quinton De Kock (374 runs) had a rare failure against Rajasthan and he would be keen to make an impact. Kishan (298 runs) and Suryakumar Yadav (283 runs) are among the leading run-scores who can go on the offensive against any attack.

The six-hitting prowess of Hardik Pandya (224 runs) was on display in the RR game, when he plundered seven maximums.

Along with stand-in captain Kieron Pollard (214 runs) and Krunal Pandya (85 runs), he can take any attack to cleansers and their hard-hitting ability could prove to be the difference between the two sides.

Mumbai bowlers would be more than keen to forget the hammering they received from Rajasthan’s Ben Stokes and Sanju Samson.

Trent Boult and Jasprit Bumrah have been lethal both at front and at the death, accounting for 33 wickets amongst themselves. For the third pacer spot, MI could choose between James Pattinson and Nathan Coulter Nile.

RCB bank on in-form Kohli

For RCB, Kohli (415 runs) would like to continue his splendid run in the tournament. Australian Aaron Finch (236 runs), young Devdutt Padikkal (343 runs) and AB de Villiers (324 runs) need to be more consistent and support their skipper.

De Villiers has shown time and again, why he is regarded as one of the best T20 batsmen by turning the clock back on few occasions. If the RCB top-order fires in unison, then they can pummel the MI attack into submission.

The likes of Chris Morris, Moeen Ali and Gurkeerat Mann, who form the lower-middle order, can also chip in with useful cameos.

But for the southern team there is injury scare on the bowling front with pacer Navdeep Saini suffering a split webbing. There is no clarity on his participation for the game against Mumbai.

In case he misses, Chris Morris and Mohammad Siraj would need to shoulder greater responsibility along with Isuru Udana.

Head-to-head

MI vs RCB H2H

Matches MI wins RCB wins Tied
28 18 10 0

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

RCb squad

Batsmen Bowlers All-rounders Wicketkeeper
Virat Kohli Yuzvendra Chahal Moeen Ali Parthiv Patel
AB de Villiers Mohammed Siraj Pawan Negi Shahbaz Ahmed
Gurkeerat Mann Umesh Yadav Shivam Dube Joshua Philippe
Devdutt Padikkal Navdeep Saini Washington Sundar
Aaron Finch Adam Zampa Christopher Morris
Dale Steyn Isuru Udana
Pavan Deshpande

Match starts at 1930 IST and will be broadcast on the Star Sports network and Disney+Hotstar

With PTI inputs