What

Mumbai Indians will be all charged up when they take on the Rajasthan Royals in Match 32 of Pepsi IPL 2015.

MI generally field eight or nine international players in its XI, yet the results haven’t been to their liking. The team has won only twice in seven outings so far this season and are barely off the floor of the table. But the five-day break since their 20-run victory over Sunrisers Hyderabad has afforded the team the chance to approach the remaining seven matches with a fresh perspective. The break would have given the players a chance to take their minds off cricket briefly, indulge in some banter, some team building events, reenergise themselves, regroup again and have a few honest chats centred around the goal of wanting to win most of the remaining games and qualify for the Playoffs.

Rajasthan Royals are comfortably placed in the top half of the table with twelve points from nine matches. Those 12 points include two points from the washed out matches against Kolkata Knight Riders and Royal Challengers Bangalore. From RR’s perspective, the two points from the two washed out matches is equivalent to points from one more win. The team will welcome the two points, especially since they have played the most number of matches, and every addition to their tally will make their road to the Playoffs that much more easier. However, the challenge for the team now would be to get on the park, and discover that winning feeling; when they take the park against MI, it would have been 11 days since their last win. Heading into the business end of the competition, Shane Watson and co. will be keen to quickly return to the winning habit.

When

01 May 2015, 8p.m. IST

Where

Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai

The Protagonists

Coming out of a break and after enjoying his birthday celebrations, one can expect the Mumbai Indians captain Rohit Sharma to be in good spirits and hungry to lead from the front. The right-hander is the team’s top run-getter in Pepsi IPL 2015. Yet given the situation his team finds itself in, the 28-year old Rohit Sharma will be the first to admit that his team perhaps needs a lot more from him.

The Rajasthan Royals will look towards their opening pair of Ajinkya Rahane and Shane Watson to stay for the majority of the overs. There will be plenty of eyeballs following Rahane in particular, for he is in some scintillating form and knows more than a thing or two about the surface at the Wankhede Stadium.

Contests to look-forward to

Lasith Malinga bowling to Ajinkya Rahane and Steve Smith are two contests one should look forward to. While Rahane is the classical batsman – playing from the crease and using footwork and timing to score runs, Steve Smith is a cheeky customer, who uses the width and depth of the crease to good effect, and can force the bowler to vary his lengths. When these two teams faced off earlier this season, Smith scored 36 runs off the 19 balls he faced from Malinga.

Previous Meetings

Mumbai Indians have won 9 of their 15 matches against the Rajasthan Royals. The two teams have met on four occasions at the Wankhede Stadium, and the hosts have prevailed in three of the four matches.

When the two teams met in Ahmedabad earlier this season, MI recovered from 45 for 3 through half-centuries by Corey Anderson and Kieron Pollard to set the hosts a target of 165. RR knocked off the runs with ease, with Steve Smith piloting the chase with an unbeaten 79.

Trivia

Mumbai Indians have realised the highest percentage of runs through boundaries this season; 65.21% of the runs scored by them have been through fours and sixes.

Mumbai Indians’ Lasith Malinga holds the IPL record for the most wickets taken by a bowler at a particular venue; he has taken 45 wickets in 26 IPL matches at the Wankhede Stadium.

Mumbai Indians have the poorest average scoring rate in the Powerplay overs in Pepsi IPL 2015 – 6.14.

MI captain Rohit Sharma needs 46 runs to have an aggregate of 1000 runs from IPL matches at the Wankhede Stadium.

Rohit Sharma’s record as MI captain in IPL matches at the Wankhede Stadium: Won – 11, Lost – 3.

Shane Watson has won only one toss in the four matches he has been RR captain in Pepsi IPL 2015. His opposite number – Rohit Sharma, has won the toss five times in seven matches.

What Next

Mumbai Indians head to Mohali next, for their fixture against Kings XI Punjab scheduled for 3 May 2015. Rajasthan Royals meanwhile stay on in Mumbai and play host to Delhi Daredevils at their adopted home ground – Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai – on May 3.