What

Royal Challengers Bangalore will come up against the Mumbai Indians in Match 7 of VIVO IPL 2019.

Both teams are yet to open their account this season. RCB got off to a rough start, being dismissed for 70 in the season opening fixture in Chennai. Despite posting a low total, RCB still put up a fight – though the flawed selections for the conditions meant they just didn’t have enough ammunition to finish the job.

MI were blown away by Rishabh Pant in their opener against the Delhi Capitals. After conceding 213 runs, MI needed one of their own to wreak havoc like Pant did; that wasn’t to be as MI lost wickets in clusters. Yuvraj Singh top-scored in MI’s chase; he applied well and made 53 in his maiden innings for the franchise.

MI had a few anxious moments when JaspritBumrah injured his shoulder at the end of the DC innings. Reports emerging from the MI camp have indicated that the injury isn’t serious and that he is recovering;he hit the nets on the eve of the match, but there’s a good chance though he will not be risked in this match and will be given time to recover completely. MI have been boosted by Lasith Malinga becoming available; if he joins up with the team in time, he could fill in for Bumrah, which will then force MI to bring in Mayank Markande in place of Ben Cutting.

When

28 March 2019, 8pm IST

Where

M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru

Previous Match XIs:

Royal Challengers Bangalore: Virat Kohli, Parthiv Patel, Moeen Ali, AB de Villiers, ShimronHetmyer, Shivam Dube, Colin de Grandhomme, Navdeep Saini, Yuzvendra Chahal, Umesh Yadav, Mohammed Siraj.

Mumbai Indians: Rohit Sharma, Quinton de Kock, Suryakumar Yadav, Yuvraj Singh, Kieron Pollard, Hardik Pandya, Krunal Pandya, Ben Cutting, Mitchell McClenaghan, Rasikh Salam, JaspritBumrah.

Protagonists

No two batsmen have scored more runs at the Chinnaswamy Stadium than Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers. The two batsmen have been the core of RCB’s batting line-up for years, and they continue to be the most important names in the teamsheet in VIVO IPL 2019. Both batsmen started the season poorly; both bagged single-digit scores in the season opener, dismissed in identical fashion – and will want to make amends. Also keep an eye on ShimronHetmyer, who could find the surface and the short boundaries at the Chinnaswamy Stadium to his liking.

Runs – or the lack of – from Rohit Sharma’s willow has a direct bearing on the Mumbai Indians’ fortunes. One of the most dangerous batsmen in white ball cricket, Rohit can demolish the opposition on his day. ‘Hit Man’ is back to his preferred role as opening batsman, and MI will hope their captain can replicate his form in international cricket in the IPL too. Among others in the MI line-up, keep an eye on Quinton de Kock, who is enjoying a purple patch with the bat; the South African did extremely well when playing for RCB at the Chinnaswamy Stadium.

Head to Head in Indian Premier League

Overall: Matches – 23, Royal Challengers Bangalore – 9, Mumbai Indians won – 14.

In Bengaluru: Matches – 9, Royal Challengers Bangalore – 2, Mumbai Indians won – 7.

Trivia

The average first innings total in IPL 2018 matches at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium was 187.

 AB de Villiers scored 4 half-centuries in 5 innings at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium last season.