4 days Ago
Mumbai Indians' (MI) concerns on the bowling department have been mitigated with the possible return of Jasprit Bumrah, as the speedster is likely to come back into the scheme of things against the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 at the Wankhede Stadium on Monday. Bumrah practiced at nets after joining the MI camp on Saturday night, and coach Mahela Jayawardene gave a heads-up to his availability for the match against RCB. However, three losses in four matches display a poor start for the five-time champions, since the side is also battling with batting woes.
Batting Concerns for Mumbai Scoring fifties has always been tough in T20 cricket, but IPL teams have increasingly moved towards being top-heavy with their best batters getting most overs to bat. At the centre of MI’s struggles with the bat are former skipper Rohit Sharma, who missed the last game against Lucknow Super Giants due to a blow to his knee at the nets after a poor start to the IPL, and middle-order batter Tilak Varma, who has not converted his starts into big scores. It remains to be seen if Rohit is fit for the clash against RCB but MI will certainly need a quick fix to their batting woes and would need Suryakumar to continue doing the heavy lifting.
With 177 runs to his kitty, the India T20I captain has been MI’ best batter this season. His half-century gave MI a glimmer of hope against LSG, but it corresponded with Tilak’s failure to accelerate which left the lower-order with an uphill task in the chase. Despite skipper Hardik Pandya’s five-for, LSG accumulated a total which was beyond MI as they lacked a hard-hitting batter lower down the order.
Pandya struck a valiant 16-ball 28 but did not get support from the other end. MI’s only win so far came last week over Kolkata Knight Riders at the Wankhede, and they would need an encore. For the visiting Royal Challengers, it would be an opportunity to exploit MI’s batting frailties and pile up further pressure on their opponents.
Virat Kohli has blown hot and cold as he began this IPL with 59 not out against KKR but since then has struggled. But RCB have enough firepower in their ranks to keep pushing for bigger totals, with Phil Salt and Devdutt Padikkal providing fireworks and skipper Rajat Patidar the necessary cushion if things are going against them. Tim David could prove to be a vital cog in this RCB line up.
The former MI player knows this ground well and its short boundaries will give the burly Australian a chance to play an explosive knock, something which he has done several times for his former side. RCB have a strong pace bowling attack in Josh Hazlewood and Bhuvneshwar Kumar providing control at the top, but spin bowlers need to be a little more consistent. RCB are placed at third position in the points table and would be keen to bounce back from their loss to Gujarat Titans in their last outing.
Squads Mumbai Indians: Hardik Pandya (c), Rohit Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav, Robin Minz, Ryan Rickelton, Shrijith Krishnan, Bevon Jacobs, Tilak Varma, Naman Dhir, Will Jacks, Mitchell Santner, Raj Angad Bawa, Vignesh Puthur, Corbin Bosch, Trent Boult, Karn Sharma, Deepak Chahar, Ashwani Kumar, Reece Topley, VS Penmetsa, Arjun Tendulkar, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Jasprit Bumrah. Royal Challengers Bengaluru: Rajat Patidar (c), Virat Kohli, Phil Salt, Jitesh Sharma, Devdutt Padikkal, Swastik Chhikara, Liam Livingstone, Krunal Pandya, Swapnil Singh, Tim David, Romario Shepherd, Manoj Bhandage, Jacob Bethell, Josh Hazlewood, Rasikh Salam Dar, Suyash Sharma, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Nuwan Thushara, Lungi Ngidi, Abhinandan Singh, Mohit Rathee, Yash Dayal..
