IPL 2018, MI vs RCB Match Prediction: Who will win today's match between Mumbai Indians and Royal Challengers Bangalore?

One of them has been successful in hitting the right branches but haven't managed to bring down the fruits. The other one has paid a fair price to get the tastiest box of mangoes but returns to find a part of them skimpy at the end of the day.

The MI team are starved for a win despite the balanced and talented team they take forward. Individually and collectively, the team is doing everything right but hasn't opened its account in this season. While, it has continued to be the discoverer of young talents like Mayank Markande, falling in the same line with the Pandya brothers, Jasprit Bumrah among others, they haven't quite hit the right note.

As the teams of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli face off, you can create your own fantasy teams on StarPick. It has a lot of exciting features along with millions in prize money. You can create your StarPick team here.

It's been 11 seasons and RCB are still highly dependant on their top 4 batsmen. Despite having the worthiest players, a glitch keeps popping up time and again, continuing the underachieving streak of the team. Just a win against KXIP in their backyard has kept them away from reaching the rock-bottom of the table.

Date: 17th April 2018

Venue: Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai

Time: 8:00 P.M IST

---

If Royal Challengers Bangalore bat first

Predicted score: 170+

One of the surfacing problems of the RCB team is top-heaviness - out of the 4 overseas players, 3 of them are at the top opening the run-scoring for the team. Although these players are bankable, probably, resting either McCullum or Quinton de Kock would be a better option today. Other names that could take their spots would be Washington Sundar, Parthiv Patel, and Manan Vohra.

The MI has the strongest bowling unit with Bumrah and Mustafizur spear-heading the pace attack, and Markande and Krunal Pandya strengthening the spin traps. The absence of batsmen accelerating the total towards the death overs, after the wickets of AB or Kohli, will be a great trouble against these bowlers.

Pawan Negi, brought in Sarfaraz's place in the last match, hasn't quite proven his worth but will surely be a better bet than the retained batsman.

The dependency on the top order wouldn't vanish overnight despite the changes that may or may not be included in the playing XI. Thus, scoring in the power play without losing much wickets would be the key.

If Mumbai Indians bat first

Predicted score: 170+

The team has shown a great competitive spirit, fighting to the last ball in all their matches. It wouldn't be unfair to say that they had the chance to win each of the matches they've lost in this season. All their batsmen have contributed very well with an exception of the captain, Rohit Sharma. While the other batsmen seem to have a fixed position and job in the batting order, Sharma still seems to float from the opening slot to the middle-order, not having found solace anywhere.

In the RCB's bowling department, Umesh Yadav had bowled tremendous overs against the first two teams they played, not leaking over 30 runs in his spell. However, he couldn't keep up to that record in the next match. While Kulwant Khejroliya was the find of the season for RCB, he maintained a decent economy of 8-odd runs before being smashed by the RR batsmen. Surprisingly even Chahal hasn't been able to live up to his standards and will look to captivate in this match.

In this decent bowling line-up, all-rounders Chris Woakes and Washington Sundar have proven to be the feasible bowlers in the previous matches. The inclusion of M Ashwin or Mohammed Siraj would be an interesting change.

Match Prediction

Although a pace-assisting pitch, the Wankhede will provide the base for a run feast. A desperate win for both the sides will demand the teams to get their A-games to the field.

Riding on home advantage, a balanced team and the urge to register a win, the Mumbai Indians walk in as the favorites and in all likeliness, will end up going up the table, at the end of the day.

Our tournament homepage has IPL live score, Match Analysis, Detailed Stats, Fantasy Tips, Controversies, Match Predictions and much more. Bookmark it now!