Hurt Mumbai eye return to winning ways

Wednesday, May 11, 2016
Start time 2000 local (1430 GMT)

A Virat Kohli century and an AB de Villiers half-century have helped Royal Challengers resurrect a wavering campaign. Prior to back-to-back wins on Saturday and Monday, they had suffered a hat-trick of defeats. Their see-sawing form can be attributed to a bowling attack, which apart from Shane Watson, has been loose.

The Royal Challengers bowling will be tested again at the M Chinnaswamy stadium. Its flat pitch and small outfield must be welcome signs to a Mumbai Indians batting line-up that had collapsed to 92 all out in swing-friendly Visakhapatnam on Sunday.

Rohit Sharma has been excellent in chases and Krunal Pandya has been the find of the season with his frenetic cameos and rapid left-arm spin. If Kieron Pollard and Jos Buttler can keep up with their reputations, the defending champions can still make a strong push for the playoffs. After 10 games, they are in fifth place with 10 points. Royal Challengers are one spot below, but they have a game in hand and three of their next four matches take place at home as well.

Royal Challengers Bangalore WWLLL (last five matches, most recent first)
Mumbai Indians LWWWL

Watson was purchased for INR 9.5 crore by Royal Challengers and he has been worth it. Not only has he bolstered the middle-order with his clean striking, his bowling has been near impeccable. Watson has mixed his pace, and tellingly, his length to choke batsmen at various stages of an innings.

Mumbai Indians had begun the season grappling for a viable No. 3. Ambati Rayudu grabbed his chance with a half-century against Sunrisers Hyderabad lash month. He is Mumbai's second-highest run-scorer with 277 runs at 30.77 and a strike rate of 124.21 and his contributions have taken some pressure off Rohit.

Bangalore is a six-hitting paradise so the temptation to bring Chris Gayle back would be strong, despite the West Indian's lack of form. Australia batsman Travis Head hasn't had much of a role down the order, so perhaps he could make way. England fast bowler Chris Jordan has not lived up to expectations in his two matches, but South Africa left-arm wrist spinner Tabraiz Shamsi had been fairly good for them. A switch may be in the offing.

Royal Challengers Bangalore (probable): 1 Virat Kohli (capt), 2 Chris Gayle/ Travis Head, 3 KL Rahul (wk), 4 AB de Villiers, 5 Shane Watson, 6 Sachin Baby, 7 Stuart Binny, 8 Chris Jordan/Tabraiz Shamsi, 9 Iqbal Abdulla, 10 Varun Aaron, 11 Yuzvendra Chahal

Will the 85-run loss in the previous game push Mumbai to think about Martin Guptill, who has played only once and Corey Anderson, who hasn't played at all?

Mumbai Indians (probable): 1 Rohit Sharma (capt), 2 Parthiv Patel (wk), 3 Ambati Rayudu, 4 Krunal Pandya, 5 Jos Buttler/ Martin Guptill, 6 Kieron Pollard, 7 Hardik Pandya, 8 Harbhajan Singh, 9 Tim Southee/ Corey Anderson, 10 Mitchell McClenaghan, 11 Jasprit Bumrah

The lowest total from four matches at Chinnaswamy stadium has been 182. Both teams have abundant firepower in the batting department, and if rain keeps away, expect another run-fest.