The 39th match of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021 will be played between Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) and Mumbai Indians (MI) at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium. RCB has won 5 of their 9 matches so far, and they are currently standing third on the points table. On the other hand, MI has only managed to win 4 of their 9 matches so far, and are currently placed at the sixth spot on the points table.
In their last game against Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in Sharjah, RCB suffered a 6-wicket loss. While batting first, RCB only managed to reach a total of 156 runs despite a partnership of 111 runs for the first wicket. Eventually, the target was comfortably chased down by the CSK in the 19th over itself and they successfully defeated RCB for the second time in this season.
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On the other hand, MI last played against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in Abu Dhabi where the latter registered a comfortable win by 7 wickets. While batting first, Mumbai Indians managed 156 runs, which was chased by KKR in the 16th over itself. RCB and MI have played 30 matches against each other in the history of the IPL so far, where MI came out victorious 19 times while RCB managed to win 11 games. The last they played against each other in this season, RCB defeated MI by 2 wickets.
Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB)
RCB will need a seamer to bowl heavy balls on hard lengths against MI’s lower middle-order, especially if Hardik Pandya comes back. Kyle Jamieson might replace Winindu Hasranga as two wristspinners will be too much against three left-handers in the opposition. Shahbaz Ahmed can balance that spin deficit and also add a left-handed pinch-hitter to the line-up and he can come in for Navdeep Saini, as a possible counter for Rahul Chahar and Krunal Pandya.
Probable XI: Virat Kohli (c), Devdutt Padikkal, KS Bharat (wk), Glenn Maxwell, AB de Villiers, Tim David, Wanindu Hasaranga/Kyle Jamieson, Shahbaz Ahmed, Harshal Patel, Yuzvendra Chahal, Mohammed Siraj
Mumbai Indians (MI)
Hardik Pandya was rested as a precautionary measure, but MI’s director of cricket operations, Zaheer Khan, revealed that the all-rounder has resumed training and is close to playing. Krunal Pandya hasn’t had the best of IPL 2021 so far but he can be lethal against a right-heavy RCB middle-order. He has dismissed AB de Villiers four times from 51 balls. In the recent past, Rohit has used him and Rahul Chahar in tandem just after the PowerPlay, especially to strangle Kohli.
Probable XI: Rohit Sharma (c), Quinton de Kock(w), Suryakumar Yadav, Ishan Kishan, Kieron Pollard, Hardik Pandya/Saurabh Tiwary, Krunal Pandya/Anukul Roy, Trent Boult, Adam Milne, Jasprit Bumrah, Rahul Chahar
Fantasy XI Suggestion 1:
AB de Villiers, Devdutt Paddikal, Ruturaj Gaikwad (C), Virat Kohli, Faf du Plessis, Dwayne Bravo, Ravindra Jadeja (v/c), Harshal Patel, Yuzvendra Chahal, Shardul Thakur, Deepak Chahar
Fantasy XI Suggestion 2:
Quinton de Kock (VC), AB de Villiers, Ishan Kishan, Virat Kohli (C), Suryakumar Yadav, Glenn Maxwell, Krunal Pandya, Wanindu Hasaranga, Jasprit Bumrah, Harshal Patel, Adam Milne
