Rohit Sharma is likely to miss his third game in a row when the Mumbai Indians take on the Royal Challengers Bangalore here on Wednesday and both teams are aiming to secure their place in the IPL play-offs. While Mumbai is sitting at the top of the table despite its eight-wicket hammering by the Rajasthan Royals with 14 points, the Virat Kohli-led RCB also remains at 14 following their loss to Chennai Super Kings on Sunday.
A win for either team on Wednesday should be enough to get them into the play-offs. Rohit’s fitness has become a subject of unwanted pre-game attention. Having missed the last two games due to a hamstring injury, the Mumbai Indians captain returned to the net on Monday, a day when he was not named to the India squad for the Australia series.
There is still no conclusive update on his fitness from the Mumbai Indians or the BCCI.
ALSO READ: ‘Indian cricket fan deserves to know’: Gavaskar on Rohit’s absence from Team India teams for Australia
In Rohit’s absence, Mumbai would persist with both Saurabh Tiwary and Ishan Kishan, who has played some brilliant shots.
Quinton De Kock (374 runs) had a rare miss against Rajasthan and would be eager to make an impact. Kishan (298 runs) and Suryakumar Yadav (283 runs) are among the leading career scores that can go on offense against any attack.
Hardik Pandya’s six-hit prowess (224 runs) showed itself in the RR game, when he sacked seven highs.
Along with backup captain Kieron Pollard (214 runs) and Krunal Pandya (85 runs), he can take any attack to the cleaners and his ability to hit hard could be the difference between the two sides.
ALSO READ: Covid in mind, India appoints great team for Aus series
Mumbai bowlers would be more than willing to forget the hammering they received from Rajasthan’s Ben Stokes and Sanju Samson.
Trent Boult and Jasprit Bumrah have been lethal both on the front lines and in death, accounting for 33 wickets between them. For the third-place pacemaker, MI could choose between James Pattinson and Nathan Coulter Nile.
For RCB, Kohli (415 runs) would like to continue his splendid career in the tournament. Australian Aaron Finch (236 runs), young Devdutt Padikkal (343 runs) and AB de Villiers (324 runs) need to be more consistent and support their skipper.
De Villiers has shown time and again why he is regarded as one of the best hitters in the T20 by turning the clock back on a few occasions. If RCB’s higher order fires in unison, then they can crush the MI attack into submission.
The likes of Chris Morris, Moeen Ali, and Gurkeerat Mann, who form the lower-middle order, can also contribute useful cameos.
But for the southern team there is fear of injury on the bowling front with the Navdeep Saini pacemaker suffering a ruptured membranes. There is no clarity about his participation in the game against Mumbai.
Should it fail, Chris Morris and Mohammad Siraj would have to take more responsibility together with Isuru Udana.
Teams (of): Mumbai Indians: Rohit Sharma, Aditya Tare, Anmolpreet Singh, Anukul Roy, Chris Lynn, Dhawal Kulkarni, Digvijay Deshmukh, Hardik Pandya, Ishan Kishan, James Pattison, Jasprit Bumrah, Jayant Yadav, Kieron Polndya, Krunal Pandya Mitchell McClenaghan, Mohsin Khan, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Prince Balwant Rai, Quinton De Kock, Rahul Chahar, Saurabh Tiwary, Sherfane Rutherford, Suryakumar Yadav, Trent Boult.
Royal Challengers Bangalore: Aaron Finch, Devdutt Padikkal, Parthiv Patel, Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers, Gurkeerat Singh, Shivam Dube, Chris Morris, Washington Sundar, Shahbaz Ahmed, Navdeep Saini, Dale Steyn, Yuzvendra Chahal, Adam Zampa, Isuru Udana, Moeen Ali, Josh Philippe, Pawan Negi, Pavan Deshpande, Mohammad Siraj, Umesh Yadav.
The match starts at 7.30 PM IST.
.
