Mumbai Indians and Royal Challengers Bangalore are set to lock horns at the Wankhede Stadium on Tuesday, May 9 looking to stay alive in the IPL 2023 playoffs race in an epic mid-table clash.
Rohit Sharma’s MI are currently in sixth place on the points table after their defeat to Chennai Super Kings, level on points with Faf du Plessis’ RCB who are in fifth place courtesy of their better net run rate.
Earlier this season, Royal Challengers Bangalore outclassed Mumbai Indians by 8 wickets in the first match of the IPL 2023 campaign for both teams. Virat Kohli and Du Plessis both smashed fifties in the game and have been in a sublime scoring run ever since. On the other hand, the form of Rohit Sharma and MI’s death bowling are some areas of concern for the five-time IPL champs.
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What: IPL 2023 match no. 54, Mumbai Indians vs Royal Challengers Bangalore
When: May 9, 2023, Monday
Where: Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai
Time: 7:30 PM IST
Mumbai Indians News
With 184 runs in 10 matches at a forgettable average of 18.39 and a solitary half-century, Sharma is enduring a second consecutive poor season with the bat.
For the sixth-placed Mumbai Indians to move up in the points table, it is imperative that their best batter in the line-up fires.
Sharma’s role in this IPL has been to provide brisk starts at the top, and at times he has had some success too, but consistency has deserted the right-arm batter whose early dismissal in huge chases has only added pressure on a relatively new batting line-up, which fortunately, from MI’s point of view, has delivered too.
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Mumbai Indians’ head coach Mark Boucher admitted a few games ago that consistency could get compromised if any batter goes out of his way to look for runs, but for Sharma, one of the highest run-getters in the IPL, it is becoming a pattern.
In last year’s IPL, which also was MI’s poorest in terms of performance as they finished last, Sharma averaged a little over 19 while scoring 268 runs in 14 matches.
However, with Sharma not firing at the top, MI have had the likes of Ishan Kishan, Suryakumar Yadav and Cameron Green consolidating in the middle while Tilak Varma and Tim David have also found their groove as finishers late in the order.
MI tried taking pressure off Sharma by sending him at No. 3 in their last game against Chennai Super Kings, but it was a move that worked for none of the parties involved. Sharma endured his second consecutive duck and fourth single-digit score on the trot while an otherwise firing Green fell for six at the opening slot.
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MI could only make a poor 139/8 in CSK’s home ground, losing an away game to their arch-rivals for the first time in 13 years.
At the same time, Mumbai Indians will also be concerned about their death overs bowling, having conceded four consecutive totals in excess of 200 while bowling first, two of which were recorded on flat decks here at the Wankhede Stadium.
Royal Challengers Bangalore News
On the other hand, RCB will hope that their troika of Virat Kohli, Faf du Plessis and Glenn Maxwell fire at the top, since whenever they have done so collectively, the team has found itself mostly on the right side of the results.
Mahipal Lomror struck a quality 54 against Delhi Capitals but his knock was not enough as RCB suffered a shock defeat, which kept them at the fifth spot in the points table with five wins and as many defeats in 10 matches.
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With 511 runs, Du Plessis is the only batter this season to have crossed the 500-run mark and RCB will hope that their skipper gets going with others in his tow to a big total if they bat first.
But it remains to be seen if RCB have more in their batting shelf apart from the big three, who have done the heavy lifting so far in the IPL. Dinesh Karthik has failed with the bat this season and RCB also do not have a big hitter in their lower-middle order either.
The inclusion of Josh Hazlewood has provided a shot in the arm to RCB’s bowling with Mohammed Siraj at the helm, having snaffled 15 wickets in 10 matches so far.
With PTI Inputs
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