Both Mumbai Indians (MI) and Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) will look to stamp their authority going into the playoffs when they square off in the 48th match of the ongoing season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) here on Wednesday.
Both sides have 14 points each but MI are top of the table due to their superior net run rate.
MI’s captain Rohit Sharma, who had missed the previous two games due to a hamstring injury, is unlikely to feature in the contest and once again Kieron Pollard will be leading the charge.
The MI top-order comprising Quinton de Kock, Ishan Kishan, Suryakumar Yadav and Saurabh Tiwary are in great form. de Kock (374 runs from 11 games) had failed to click against Rajasthan Royals but the wicketkeeper has been excellent throughout the season.
Their middle-order features Hardik Pandya, Pollard and Krunal Pandya, all of whom have at some point taken the opposition bowlers to the cleaners in the death overs. It was Hardik who starred in their previous match against Rajasthan Royals, smashing an unbeaten 21-ball 60.
Their pacers – Jasprit Bumrah (17 wickets), Trent Boult (16 wickets) have been at their lethal best barring the last game when their side was handed a reality check by Ben Stokes and Sanju Samson.
Apart from them, either James Pattinson or Nathan Coulter-Nile could be their third pacer while the spin workload will be shared by Rahul Chahar and Krunal.