Rohit Sharma-led Mumbai Indians (MI) will hope to return tro winnibng ways, when they host Rajasthan Royals (RR) in Match 42 of the Indian Premier League (IPL), at the Wankhede Stadium on Sunday.
For most of the tournament, MI have been languishing at the bottom half of the IPL standings. They are currently ninth with six points, whereas the Royals are second with 10 points from eight games, two points behind league leaders and defending champions Gujarat Titans.
Jofra Archer, who lost played for MI against PBKS on 22 April, is likely to make a return to the playing XI, while Trent Boult, who missed RR’s last match due to a niggle also looks set to make a comeback.
MI desperately needs Rohit Sharma to rediscover his form if they are to get runs at the top of the order. Rohit has scored just one fifty all season, while aggregating 181 runs from seven matches, at a strike-rate of 135.07.
MI used to be an unbeatable side at once, but they have struggled this season. The absence of injured Jasprit Bumrah is proving out to be a big miss. Bumrah’s absence has led to MI’s struggles with death bowling. Against PBKS, MI conceded 96 runs from the last five overs, to hand the Punjab Kings victory. In another match, they conceded 70 off the last four overs against GT.
MI will need to fire in unison on Sunday, and for that, they will need their top-order batters to produce the goods. The trio of Rohit, Kishan and Suryakumar will have to keep up with the team’s batting expectations. They have just a combined total of three fifties between them and Kishan and Rohit, in fact, will hope to improve on their strike-rates, which are 129.78 and 135.07 respectively.
What makes RR an impressive side this season is their depth and firepower in batting. Yashasvi Jaiswal, who scored 77 against CSK, leads RR’s batting charts with 304 runs, whereas Jos Buttler is not far behind in second place, with 271 runs. Dhruv Jurel has also scored runs on a consistent basis.
RR’s spin duo of Yuzvendra Chahal (12) and R Ashwin (11) also have a joint 23 wickets between them, and have looked formidable in their bowling so far.
The contest on Sunday night will also be historic at Wankhede Stadium, with the contest being the 100th IPL match.
Recent form (Last five matches)
MI: LLWWW
RR: WLLWW
MI vs RR head-to-head: Mumbai Indians and Rajasthan Royals have faced each other a total of 27 times. MI enjoy a 14-12 lead against RR, with one match ending in a no-result.
MI vs RR probable playing XI
MI: Rohit Sharma, Ishan Kishan, Suryakumar Yadav, Tim David, Cameron Green, Tilak Varma, Nehal Wadhera, Arjun Tendulkar, Jason Bwhrendorff, Piyush Chawla, Jofra Archer.
RR: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Jos Buttler, Sanju Samson, Sanju Samson, Shimron Hetmyer, Jason Holder, R Ashwin, Dhruv Jurel, Yuzvendra Chahal, Sandeep Sharma, Trent Boult.
MI vs RR live streaming: The match will be live streamed on the JioCinema app and website. The match will also be broadcast on Star Sports Network TV channel.
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