23:54(IST)
Stats Attack: Teams batting first have won the last 4 IPL matches.
This is MI’s first victory of IPL 2018: Every team now has tasted victory at least once
MI have won their 5th consecutive match against RCB in the IPL.
The top 2 individual scores this season came in this match. Combined, they scored 186 runs. Kohli’s boundaries: 11 , Rest of RCB: 8
This is MI’s 3rd biggest victory over RCB in the IPL:
When chasing a big total, you need an excellent beginning. Bangalore though lost their two premium batsmen, Quinton de Kock and AB de Villiers inside the Powerplay. From there onward, it was a struggle for them. Although skipper Virat Kohli kept scoring from one end, he failed to receive any support from the other end. Mayank Markande and Krunal Pandya were neat with their spells, not allowing any easy runs and the latter bagged a 3-wicket haul. Altogether, a great team effort by Mumbai and they have opened their account with a comprehensive win, their fifth in a row against Bangalore.
New Zealand Women in Ireland, Only T20I, 2018
IREW vs NZW - Jun 6th, 2018, 04:30 PM IST
What
Defending champions Mumbai Indians will be desperate to open their account in VIVO IPL 2018 when they take on the Royal Challengers Bangalore in Match 14.
MI currently lie at the bottom of the eight-team table. Though the results show MI are 0 from 3, it could have been just the opposite; in each of their three matches, MI have been pipped right at the post. In the season opener, Dwayne Bravo blitzed at the end to lead the Chennai Super Kings to a win; CSK won by 1 wicket with one ball to spare. In MI’s second match, Billy Stanlake struck a last ball boundary to lead Sunrisers Hyderabad to another 1 wicket win. Most recently, MI made 194-7, but the Delhi Daredevils chased down the runs, again getting over the line off the last ball.
Royal Challengers Bangalore have one win from three matches. In their most recent outing, they lost to the Rajasthan Royals by 19 runs. In their preceding match against Kings XI Punjab, RCB became the first side to bowl out a side this season; but against RR, their bowlers came in for plenty of stick, conceding 217 runs – the most any side has conceded this season. RCB continue to be loaded at the top and have very little experience in the batting lower down the order; they rely heavily on their overseas opening pair of Brendon McCullum and Quinton de Kock, and on skipper Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers. One possible way to address the imbalance is by bringing in Parthiv Patel in place of one of the overseas openers, and then include one of the three overseas all-rounders in the middle-order.
RCB have had two extreme performances on the bowling front and they need to consistently hit the middle ground – pick up wickets, while not conceding too many runs too.
When
16 April 2018, 2000Hrs (IST)
Where
Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai
Impact Batsmen
The Mumbai Indians surprised everyone when they sent out Suryakumar Yadav to open the batting. That ploy worked brilliantly as Yadav, in the company of Evin Lewis, gave MI their first century opening stand at the Wankhede Stadium. Batting at three, Ishan Kishan made a quickfire 44, providing the first instance of MI’s top three making scores of 40 or more in an IPL match. That formula, of putting the opposition under pressure at the start, worked, and MI will hope it can work repeatedly.
Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers – RCB’s biggest match-winners – love playing at the Wankhede Stadium. In his 7 visits to the venue since 2015, Kohli has scored two half-centuries (in T20s), a Test double hundred and a 121 in an ODI against New Zealand. In his last six visits to the venue, de Villiers has scores of 133 (59 balls), 119 (61 balls), 16 (8 balls), 29 (21 balls) and 43 (27 balls) – an aggregate of 404 runs at a strike-rate of 197! Brendon McCullum, in the very brief period he has been at the crease in the last two innings, has struck the ball cleanly, but has been unfortunate to find the fielder; the Kiwi has been dismissed for 0 & 4, but will be desperate to find the gap!
Impact Bowlers
MI’s young leg-spinner Mayank Markande has been impressive; the 20-year old has used the googly effectively, and among his seven scalps this season are the wickets of MS Dhoni, Shikhar Dhawan, Manish Pandey and Shakib al Hasan.
Krunal Pandya, who has bowled only 5 overs in the three matches this season, will be itching to get the ball in his hand when his bunny AB de Villiers comes out to bat; in the IPL, Krunal has dismissed de Villiers on 4 occasions in the 32 balls he has bowled to him.
Washington Sundar will have a huge role to play for RCB; the tall off-spinner has had plenty of success against left-handers, and RCB will want him to come good against the two left-handers in MI’s top-order.
Team Head to Head
No team has defeated the Royal Challengers Bangalore more often in the IPL than the Mumbai Indians. In the last two seasons, MI have defeated RCB in all four meetings – winning all of those matches in run-chases.
Overall: Matches – 21, Mumbai Indians won – 13, Royal Challengers Bangalore won – 8.
Trivia
Mumbai Indians are the only defending champions to have lost their first three matches in the following season. After winning the title in 2013, MI lost their first five matches the following season. Now, having won the title in 2017, they are 0-3 down after their first three outings.
The average first innings total in the last six IPL matches at the Wankhede Stadium stands at 179; the team batting first has won 3 of these matches, while teams have chased down targets on the remaining three occasions.
A first innings total of 185 seems to be a reasonable winning score in IPL matches at the Wankhede Stadium; teams have emerged victorious in 8 of the 10 matches when they’ve scored 185 or more batting first.
MI’s Mitchell McClenaghan has contrasting numbers against the two RCB lynch pins; he has dismissed Virat Kohli on four occasions in the 28 balls he has bowled to him – conceding only 19 runs in the process. Against AB de Villiers, he has conceded 54 runs off 22 balls, without ever dismissing him.
What Next
The Mumbai Indians will enjoy a break of four days before they step on the field at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur on April 22 for their away fixture against the Rajasthan Royals.
Royal Challengers Bangalore meanwhile will head back home and enjoy 3-day break before their home match against the Delhi Daredevils on April 21.
