Published: May 01, 2017, 03:00 PM (IST)
Edited: May 01, 2017, 08:00 PM (IST)
Hello, good afternoon and welcome to CricketCountry’s live cricket blog and updates’ post of the match No. 38 in the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) 2017, between the in-form Mumbai Indians (MI) and the struggling Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB). The game will be played at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai, and the heat will be completely on the visiting side who are having a horror time in this IPL. With just 2 wins in 10 matches and 7 defeats, a team boasting the likes of Chris Gayle, AB de Villiers and Virat Kohli is languishing at the bottom of the pool and now depends on the mercy of the others to make it to the next round. FULL CRICKET SCORECARD: Mumbai Indians (MI) vs Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB), IPL 2017, Match 38
The Rohit Sharma-led Mumbai Indians (MI) on the other hand, are looking well-set to storm into the IPL 10 playoffs. Sitting pretty at the second spot in the IPL 2017 points table, Mumbai Indians have won 7 out of their 9 matches and have lost only 2. In their previous game, Mumbai Indians were powered to a thrilling victory by Jasprit Bumrah, who bowled an excellent over in the Super Over stage, allowing Gujarat Lions a mere 6 runs as they were chasing 12 to win. Mumbai have players for all sorts of situations and are not one-dimensional like Royal Challengers Bangalore, whose over-dependency on the batting troika of Kohli, Gayle and de Villiers have hurt them in return.
Mumbai Indians have shown they can win contests from toughest of situations. They were inflicted with a hat-trick — first of IPL 2017 and the only such instance so far — by RCB bowler Samuel Badree. The Caribbean spinner had reduced the Mumbai Indians to a mere 7 for 4, but they recovered extremely well to post an impressive victory in their first clash against RCB.
On the other hand, RCB seems to be touching new lows every passing day. For a batting-heavy side consisting some of the best in the business, Royal Challengers Bangalore in this season are a far cry from what they were in IPL 2016.
The runners-up of IPL 2016, RCB began with struggling for combinations, and the troubles soon compounded with their key players struggling for form. What has also been one of the most disappointing facts for RCB, is the failure to get together a potent bowling attack.
Squads:
Mumbai Indians: Rohit Sharma (c), Parthiv Patel (wk), Harbhajan Singh, Lasith Malinga, Kieron Pollard, Jos Buttler, Mitchell McClenaghan, Nitish Rana, Jasprit Bumrah, Hardik Pandya, Krunal Pandya, Mitchell Johnson, Lendl Simmons, Tim Southee, Vinay Kumar, Saurabh Tiwary, Karn Sharma, Ambati Rayudu, Krishnappa Gowtham, Siddhesh Lad, Nicholas Pooran, Shreyas Gopal, Asela Gunaratne, Jitesh Sharma, Deepak Punia, Jagadeesha Suchith, Kulwant Khejroliya
Royal Challengers Bangalore: Virat Kohli (c), AB de Villiers, Chris Gayle, Yuzvendra Chahal, Harshal Patel, Mandeep Singh, Adam Milne, Sreenath Aravind, Kedar Jadhav (wk), Shane Watson, Stuart Binny, Samuel Badree, Iqbal Abdulla, Travis Head, Sachin Baby, Avesh Khan, Tabraiz Shamsi, Pawan Negi, Tymal Mills, Aniket Choudhary, Praveen Dubey, Billy Stanlake.
FULL CRICKET SCORECARD: Mumbai Indians (MI) vs Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB), IPL 2017, Match 38
