What

Match 46 of Pepsi IPL 2015 will feature the Mumbai Indians taking on the Royal Challengers Bangalore. MI have 12 points from 11 matches, while RCB have 11 points from 10 matches.

MI are certainly the form team and begin as favourites heading into this match; the hosts have shrugged off their slow start to post five consecutive victories, and most recently defeated the formidable Chennai Super Kings in their backyard. RCB meanwhile have had a 3-day break since their annihilation of Kings XI Punjab and will look to climb back into the top half of the table.

A win for either team will not only make their task of progressing to the Playoffs easier, it will also make the road for the other team that much more difficult.

When

10 May 2015, 4p.m. IST

Where

Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai

The Protagonists

Lendl Simmons and Parthiv Patel have made a significant contribution to the turnaround of Mumbai Indians’ fortunes. They have consistently provided their team starts at the top of the innings. They will be expected to continue doing the same, so the stroke-makers and match-winners in the middle – Rohit Sharma, Ambati Rayudu and Kieron Pollard – can play their natural game later in the innings.

After his exploits in the previous match, there will sure be plenty of eyeballs following Chris Gayle. The RCB opener blasted his way to 117 from 57 balls – his 14th T20 century – in the previous match against Kings XI Punjab. On the bowling front, Mitchell Starc – RCB’s leading wicket-taker in the season – is sure pose a lot of questions at the Mumbai Indians batsmen.

Contests to look-forward to

Lasith Malinga, who is among the most feared bowlers in the world, has never dismissed the RCB opening batsman Chris Gayle. On the last three occasions when the two have come across each other, the left-hander has seen off the Sri Lankan, scoring 2 (9 balls), 3 (5 balls) and 1 (5 balls). This is one wicket the Sri Lankan will be keen to add to his kitty.

The one man who has had Gayle’s number in recent MI-RCB contests is Harbhajan Singh; in each of Gayle’s last three outings against MI, the off-spinner has dismissed the Jamaican.

The other contest, after how it took shape when these two teams met in Bengaluru last, is between Malinga and AB de Villiers. In that match in Bengaluru, de Villiers scored 22 runs off five Malinga deliveries, which included two boundaries and two sixes. Malinga will be hoping to keep the RCB batsman quiet this time round.

Previous Meetings

The head to head between Mumbai Indians and Royal Challengers Bangalore reads 9-7 in favour of the former. 

When these two teams met in Bengaluru earlier this season, Mumbai Indians broke their sequence of four defeats by trouncing RCB by 18 runs in a high-scoring contest. After posting 209 runs on the board riding on half-centuries from Lendl Simmons and Unmukt Chand, and a cameo from captain Rohit Sharma, MI restricted the hosts to 18 short of the target despite an incredible assault from AB de Villiers and a cameo from David Wiese.

Trivia

The Mumbai Indians’ longest streak of consecutive wins is 6 matches. They have won their last five matches.

The average first innings total in Pepsi IPL 2015 matches at the Wankhede Stadium is 174.

This match will feature the two bowlers (among bowlers with more than 15 wickets in the IPL) with the highest percentage of ‘Bowled’ dismissals. 48.3% of Mitchell Starc’s 29 wickets in the IPL have been through ‘Bowled’, while 42.5% of Lasith Malinga’s 134 wickets have been through uprooting the stumps.

What Next

Mumbai Indians’ next fixture: Vs Kolkata Knight Riders in Mumbai, 14 May 2015
Royal Challengers Bangalore’s next fixture: Vs Kings XI Punjab in Mohali, 13 May 2015.