Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) will look to get back to winning ways when they take on Mumbai Indians (MI) who have gathered pace after their win in the last game when the two sides cross swords in an Indian Premier League (IPL) game here on Tuesday.
Mumbai beat in-form Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in Pune in their previous encounter on Saturday.
On the other hand, RCB succumbed to back-to-back defeats at the hands of CSK and Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in their own lair in morale-deflating fashion.
Placed sixth and seventh respectively, Mumbai and Bangalore will take Tuesday’s game as a must-win encounter as the losing side might find it difficult to get a shot at a play-offs berth.
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Mumbai beat Bangalore in their last encounter by 46 runs at the Wankhede Stadium with Rohit Sharma and Evin Lewis hitting 94 and 65 respectively.
For Rohit’s side, except Suryakumar Yadav, who has 274 runs under his belt in seven matches as an opener, others have been inconsistent.
Rohit also needs to find form as the India opener has struggled to get past 20 in five games.
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Big-hitting West Indian all-rounder Keiron Pollard, in his twilight years, has been out of form and was dropped in the last game.
Jean-Paul Duminy, who came in for Pollard in the last game, would be itching to be in the thick of things. The South African did not bat in the last match as Mumbai crossed the winning mark without his services.
Coming to the Pandya brothers — Hardik and Krunal — who have been good in their bowling would like to get big knocks with the bat as they have managed to score just 61 and 113 runs respectively in seven-odd matches they have played.
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Mumbai will again bank on young spinner Mayank Markande, who has so far bagged 10 wickets from seven games with his leg-spin, to deliver the goods.
The hosts, on the other hand, have to get their act together and Kohli would hope his team can get it right against Mumbai.
They missed star South African batsman AB de Villiers in the last game due to flu.
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The South African star has been in prime form this season, smashing 68 off 30 balls against CSK and singlehandedly defeating Delhi Daredevils with his unbeaten 39-ball 90.
Kohli is also getting back in form after hitting 92 and 68 against Mumbai and KKR, respectively.
Opener Quinton De Kock, who has scored 194 runs so far, would like to carry on with his good performance.
Teams:
Mumbai Indians: Rohit Sharma (Captain), Jasprit Bumrah, Hardik Pandya, Kieron Pollard, Mustifizur Rahman, Adam Milne, Suryakumar Yadav, Krunal Pandya, Ishan Kishan (WK), Rahul Chahar, Evin Lewis, Saurabh Tiwary, Ben Cutting, Pradeep Sangwan, JP Duminy, Tajinder Singh, Sharad Lumba, Siddhesh Lad, Aditya Tare, Mayank Markande Akila Dhanajaya, Anukul Roy, Mohsin Khan, MD Nidheesh and Mitchell McClenaghan.
Royal Challengers Bangalore: Virat Kohli (Captain), Quinton de Kock (WK), Brendon McCullum, AB de Villiers, Sarfaraz Khan, Mandeep Singh, Chris Woakes, Washington Sundar, Umesh Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Colin de Grandhomme, Moeen Ali, Pawan Negi, Mohammed Siraj, Corey Anderson, Parthiv Patel, Tim Southee.
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