Published: Apr 20, 2016, 06:27 AM (IST)
Edited: Apr 20, 2016, 09:10 AM (IST)
Mumbai Indians (MI) are off to an unsuccessful start in IPL 2016 having lost three of their four matches. Whereas Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) have won one of their two matches and will be looking to capitalise on Mumbai’s bad run. Mumbai haven’t yet found their combination right with their persistent batting collapse. They are dependent on Rohit Sharma to lead their batting order from the front which happened in only one match. Hardik Pandya is also a concern for the hosts. Their bowling has been remarkable but unable to defend low scores. On the other hand Bangalore’s bowling has looked out of shape due to absence of Australian speedster Mitchell Starc. FULL CRICKET SCORECARD: Mumbai Indians vs Royal Challengers Bangalore, IPL 2016, Match 14 at Mumbai.
Their batting has been destructive and have faced flack for missing out on their destructive batsman Chris Gayle to greet his first child. Virat Kohli and AB De Villiers have decimated the bowling attacks by scoring two consecutive half centuries. Shane Watson and youngster Sarfraz Khan have also helped them to get to a big total. There will be fierce battle between bat and ball at Wankhede, let’s look at a few potential ones.
Virat Kohli vs Jasprit Bumrah: However Virat Kohli is in the form of his life, Bumrah’s toe-breaking yorkers will be exciting to keep an eye for. Virat Kohli is in the race of Orange Cup scoring 75 and 79 in two games. He is carrying forward his form from Asia Cup and T20 World Cup. Jasprit Bumrah’s performance in this year’s IPL has been a mixed bag. This will be a right time to get his yorkers and slower ones right.
AB de Villiers vs Tim Southee: The 360 degree batsman AB de Villiers is in his true self with two fifties on trot sharing century partnerships with Virat Kohli. He will be facing New Zealand speedster Tim Southee early on who was pretty impressive in last match with his late-swinging yorkers and hurried short ball onto the batsman. Tim Southee holds the key to the type of start Mumbai Indians get.
Shane Watson vs Mitchell McClenaghan: The recently retired Shane Watson has chipped in with valuable cameos to pile on the pressure on the opposition bowlers. He has been good with both bat and ball as well as field taking a stunner in the last match against Delhi Daredevils. Whereas Mitchell McClenaghan is in good form but was wicket-less in last game. He bowled a magical penultimate over against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) giving just two runs and picking up two wickets. He has taken six wickets in this IPL so far.
Rohit Sharma vs Adam Milne: Skipper Rohit Sharma has too much weight on his shoulders with captaincy as well as leading the batting order. He only succeeded once against Kolkata Knight Riders taking Mumbai home single-handedly but failed to perform in the other three. Adam Milne has a chance to get picked in the side as Chris Gayle will be unavailable for two matches. He was expensive in the first match and will be hungry to get back on board. He was in good form earlier during T20 World Cup.
Jos Buttler vs David Wiese: The wicket-keeper batsman from England is struggling to find his rhythm. He succeeded once scoring a quickfire fifty off 25 deliveries. He had a good run in T20 World Cup and expected to continue that. David Wiese is known for deceiving batsman with change of pace and will be the go-to bowler for Royal Challengers Bangalore in death overs
(Arun Rawal, a reporter with CricketCountry, is a daydreamer, movie buff, and cricket fanatic. He could not play cricket, so did the next best thing, writing for it. He loves to play the flick shot over square leg, and believes Sachin Tendulkar is God. His twitter handle is @ArunRawal93)
