Mumbai Indians lock horns with Royal Challengers Bangalore in the 48th Match of the Indian Premier League at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday.
This season the competition has been more intense than before and bar CSK, every team is still alive in the competition and fighting it out for the playoff spots. Even the top teams can't take it easy with the fixtures getting trickier. MI and RCB would like to put one foot inside the playoffs door with a win at Abu Dhabi. The two teams are equal on points (14) but separated by run rate with MI taking the first spot and RCB taking the third.
RCB have played a good brand of cricket and for a change, it's their bowling that has shone in the tournament. They had an off day against CSK in the last match as they lost by eight wickets and it was their batting that let them down as they could only manage 145. Maybe they need to rethink their approach in batting, they are slow to start off and rely heavily on AB de Villiers to finish it off things in style.
This overreliance on ABD can hurt them, after all, he won't be clicking in every single match. The form of Aaron Finch is also a concern, he's averaged just 21.45 and failed to cross 20 in his last four innings. He is a much better batsman than what his scores read and would be looking to find some form against MI. With the pitches getting slow, RCB might want to stick with Moeen Ali who played his first match of the tournament, against CSK, replacing Isuru Udana.
The bowling attack had a rare off day and would be looking to bounce back against MI. It won't be easy though against a formidable MI batting line-up. The Bumrah vs Kohli battle will be fascinating to watch.
MI, on the other hand, suffered a heavy defeat against RR in the last match. It's been a roller-coaster ride in the last three matches with one game going to the Super Over which KXIP won, then in the next one MI thumped CSK by 10 wickets and then suffered a hammering at the hands of RR by eight wickets.
They would look to gain some consistency. The bowlers had an off day against RR and a much better performance is the need of the hour. There is still uncertainty around the participation of Rohit Sharma who was left out of all of India squads that will tour to Australia. However, late on Monday evening, Mumbai Indians posted a video of him practicing in the nets.
The one positive to come out of the RR match was Hardik Pandya's batting. He was at his best clobbering the bowlers out of the park. MI needed him to find that touch and get some batting time out in the middle.
If Rohit is not fit, MI might go in with an unchanged line-up.
The last time these two teams met, earlier in the tournament, it ended up being a thriller with RCB winning in the Super Over.
We can expect another cracker this time around.
Here's all you need to know about the MI vs RCB match in Abu Dhabi
When is the 48th match of IPL 2020 between MI and RCB?
The 48th match of IPL 2020 between MI and RCB is on Wednesday, 28 October 2020.
Where will the MI vs RCB match be played?
The match will be played at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi.
What time does the MI vs RCB match start?
The match will start at 7.30 pm IST (6 pm UAE time).
Which TV channels will broadcast the MI vs RCB match?
All the IPL matches will be shown live on Star Sports India channels and games can also be streamed live on Disney + Hotstar. You can follow the live blog and updates on www.firstpost.com
Mumbai Indians full squad: Rohit Sharma, Sherfane Rutherford, Suryakumar Yadav, Anmolpreet Singh, Chris Lynn, Saurabh Tiwary, Dhawal Kulkarni, Jasprit Bumrah, Mitchell McClenaghan, Rahul Chahar, Trent Boult, Mohsin Khan, Prince Balwant Rai Singh, Digvijay Deshmukh, Hardik Pandya, Jayant Yadav, Kieron Pollard, Krunal Pandya, Anukul Roy, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Ishan Kishan, Quinton de Kock, Aditya Tare, James Pattinson
Royal Challengers Bangalore full squad: Virat Kohli (c), AB de Villiers, Gurkeerat Mann, Devdutt Padikkal, Aaron Finch, Yuzvendra Chahal, Mohammed Siraj, Umesh Yadav, Navdeep Saini, Adam Zampa, Dale Steyn, Isuru Udana, Moeen Ali, Pawan Negi, Shivam Dube, Washington Sundar, Chris Morris, Pavan Deshpande, Parthiv Patel, Joshua Philippe, Shahbaz Ahmad.
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