Preview: Mumbai Indians vs. Royal Challengers Bangalore

Pre-tournament favorites Royal Challengers Bangalore and Mumbai Indians face each other for the first time in the tournament at the Wankhede stadium today. Mumbai has scored 7 wins out of 11 matches this season, while Bangalore has managed only 5 out of the same number of matches. Languishing at the seventh position in the table, Bangalore needs a win desperately to put themselves in contention for a playoff berth and separate themselves from the mid-table scuffle.

Bangalore packs some heavyweights in its batting line-up and has had the second fastest scoring rate in the tournament at 130.71, but they face an experienced bowling unit today that has been the second most economical in the tournament at 7.28 runs per over. Having relied much too heavily upon the duo Chris Gayle and AB de Villiers to get them competitive scores, Bangalore will need their domestic talent to step up before it’s too late. Their primary concern however is the bowling department where they have failed consistently to restrict the opposition teams from scoring fluently and posting huge scores. The bowlers have struggled to take wickets, with little impact from the leading duo of Zaheer Khan and Vinay Kumar. The Challengers have no room for mistakes if they want to progress forward without letting their fate rest in the hands of other teams.

Mumbai’s tally of seven wins belies an inconsistent showing in the tournament, with three wins scored off the last ball and another scored on the penultimate delivery. However, confidence and consistency is slowly creeping into their performances with the return of form for Sachin Tendulkar and Rohit Sharma in their last outing, while RP Singh and Harbhajan Singh have started lending able support to the devastating stints of Malinga. With a playoff seat clearly visible in the distance, Mumbai will be looking to carry their winning momentum forward and positioning themselves for a comfortable entry into the next stage.

Head to Head

Mumbai lead a close head to head record with 5 wins in 9 encounters between the two teams.

Players to watch out for

Mumbai Indians

1. Sachin Tendulkar

Sachin was looking more assured and fluent with every stint in the middle and came up with a confident 74 off 44 deliveries in the last match against Chennai. His ability to give a solid start before shifting into higher gears poses him as the biggest batting threat to the Challengers.

2. Lasith Malinga

Few bowlers have created the kind of impact in the tournament that Malinga has. Not only has he knocked off top order wickets consistently, his incredibly tight spells at the death have changed the course of many matches.

Royal Challengers Bangalore

1. AB de Villiers

He may not have scored the highest number of runs this season, but the single-handed impact his powerful stints in the middle have had on many matches puts him up as arguably the best batsman in the tournament. If support from the Indian batting assets continues to be erratic, the fortunes of the Challengers may rest with the South African batsman once again.

2. Chris Gayle

No required rate is daunting enough if the West Indian batsman is still present in the middle. The Mumbai bowlers would want to send him back to the pavilion quickly if they don’t want him to bat them out the game.

Anticipated face-off

The deadly yorkers and deceptive slower variations of Malinga will come up against a more able enemy in the form of Chris Gayle today. This face-off of pace and power could prove to be a match in itself.

Prediction for the game

The duo of Gayle and de Villiers may find the battery of deceptive bowlers in the Mumbai ranks much harder to get away. Individual sparks from the Challengers might not be enough to prevail over a Mumbai Indians that is steadily heading to the level of performance and consistency that was expected out of it before the season started.

Predicted winner: Mumbai Indians.