Mumbai Indians and Royal Challengers Bangalore have already met once this season with the former coming out on top at the MA Chinnaswamy Stadium. The game was marred by a no-ball on the final delivery of the match when Lasith Malinga had overstepped but the umpire had failed to pick it up. Royal Challengers had lost the game by 6 runs. Virat Kohli’s men will now be looking to avenge that loss.
The momentum is also with the Royal Challengers. In their previous outing, the Bangalore-based outfit thrashed Kings XI Punjab by 8 wickets to register their first win of the season. Royal Challengers will be looking to build on that win. On the other hand, Mumbai Indians had lost to Rajasthan Royals in their last outing and will be eyeing a quick return to the winning track.
Pitch report:
“There is a bit of grass, a good covering across the surface. 192 is the average score here batting first. High scoring ground it is. Dew is around and so, teams would want to bat second. Score a lot and then, you might have a chance (if batting first),” says Mpumelelo Mbangwa.
Toss:
Mumbai Indians won the toss and decided to field first against Royal Challengers Bangalore at the Wankhede Stadium.
Here is what the captains said:
Virat Kohli:
“I would have done the same. As Rohit said, it’s a difficult ground to defend and we’re good at chasing. So, we would have bowled first too. Wouldn’t want to look too far ahead. Have told the boys to enjoy on the field and not take much pressure.”
Rohit Sharma:
“We’re gonna bowl first. The nature of the ground says that it plays better in the second half. Also it’s something our team is good at. Yes, it was a tough loss (against RR) but you need to give them credit. Jos Buttler played a fab knock. We have one change – Alzarri is injured, Malinga is back.”
Teams:
Mumbai Indians (Playing XI):
Rohit Sharma(c), Quinton de Kock, Suryakumar Yadav, Kieron Pollard, Hardik Pandya, Ishan Kishan(w), Krunal Pandya, Rahul Chahar, Jason Behrendorff, Lasith Malinga, Jasprit Bumrah
Royal Challengers Bangalore (Playing XI):
Parthiv Patel (wk), AB de Villiers, Virat Kohli (c), Umesh Yadav, Moeen Ali, Yuzvendra Chahal, Pawan Negi, Akshdeep Nath, Marcus Stoinis, Navdeep Saini, Mohammed Siraj