Adam Gilchrist had something to say about Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) the other day while conversing with Michael Vaughan online. Rahul Dravid, with 898 runs, is the second-highest Indian scorer for the team, behind Virat Kohli, who leads the RCB, IPL, and batting rankings with 7579 runs. With 701 runs, Dinesh Karithik is now ranked second.
Gilchrist might have been right. In 2010, Dravid departed from RCB, leaving a vacuum in the team’s batting lineup that hasn’t been sufficiently replaced. Thus, it should come as no surprise that RCB has consistently underperformed in the Indian Premier League, a reality that is mirrored in the millions of ironic and humorous memes that can be seen on social media.
The English bowler for the Royals, Reece Topley, remarked, “An interesting point,” the night before the team’s match at the Wankhede versus the Mumbai Indians. Since Mo (Bobat, director of cricket) and Andy (Flower, head coach) weren’t in control of the team, that likely spans distinct eras. Yes, I get that, but since I haven’t been around for 16 years, it may not be possible for me to respond to it based on my experience.”
“It’s probably something that’s transcended many managements,” the Englishman went on. And it’s incredible that Virat has been RCB’s constant player for such a long time. And it’s amazing how devoted he is to the franchise and the fans are to him. However, since it’s a historical topic, we can only individually respond to responses for the previous two years—and more significantly, for this season, which is crucial to achieving our objective.”
If the Indian hitters’ inability to score runs has historically been an issue, this year’s batting problems has gotten worse. Only Kohli’s bat, who currently holds the Orange Cap with 316 runs, has produced runs. Foreign runs have dried up, especially from the batters who are playing overseas. With 109 runs in five games (35, 3, 8, 19, and 44), Faf du Plessis hasn’t exactly been a dominant player at the top of the order, and Glenn Maxwell, with just 32 runs (0, 3, 28, 0 and 3), has been a massive flop. Cameron Green, the much publicized pre-season trade acquisition, has only scored 68 runs in five games (18, 3, 33, 9, 5*).
It makes sense, therefore, that after just one victory, they are mired in the bottom part of the standings. The fact that they are playing at a place and against a team with a less than stellar record—they are behind 3–7 at the Wankhede—complicates matters. “I had no idea about that. Tomorrow is a new opportunity, no doubt, but I believe that things are always riskier when things haven’t been going well. We’ll be using every resource at our disposal to put them under pressure,” Topley declared.
With a convincing victory over the Delhi Capitals a few days ago, the Mumbai Indians have regained their footing and will look to build on that success. Their issue has been the captain’s form, as he hasn’t been able to control the bowling as he usually does. In the final overs (between 16 and 20 balls), he scored just 23 runs in 15 balls with three wickets, which is not a good score. In the other four games, he has scored 108 runs (11, 24, 34, and 39). Tim David said that the group has discussed it.
We’ve discussed our performance since, to be honest, Hardik has been carrying out a fairly significant role for our squad. If you watch the previous game, we had a lot of trouble gaining momentum in the latter stages, whereas Hardik had a fantastic innings. That provided the framework for what Romario (the shepherd) and I would do in the end. He understood that. He got that one ball that he could have hit for six, and we managed to get ourselves to a platform. The way the game is played, he hit it high off the bat, missed the middle, and was out “explained the Australian.
When: April 11, 19:30 IST, Mumbai Indians vs. Royal Challengers Bengaluru, IPL 2024
Where: Mumbai’s Wankhede Stadium
What to anticipate: This should be a high-scoring match due to the tiny boundaries and batting wicket. With prominent players on both teams, sixes seemed to be falling all the time. When dew is involved, the captain who wins the toss may decide to field.
Head-to-head: RCB 14 – MI 18. Having won five of the seven matches since 2020, RCB has outclassed their Mumbai opponents. MI lead RCB 7-3 at the Wankhede.
Collective Eye:
Indians from Mumbai
Injury/Availability: MI does not pose a risk for injury.
Strategies & Matchups: Rohit Sharma will want to take advantage of Mohammed Siraj’s early overs, as the former MI captain has never let the previous captain down in this tournament (53 balls | 68 runs). Ishan Kishan struggles against the quick, thus Rohit would choose to farm the strike against him as well (42 balls | 50 runs | 2 dismissals).
The probable starting eleven are: Tim David, Mohammad Nabi, Romario Shepherd, Piyush Chawla, Gerald Coetzee, Jasprit Bumrah, Suryakumar Yadav, Rohit Sharma, Ishan Kishan (wk), Tilak Varma, and Hardik Pandya (c). [Akash Madhwal is the Impact Sub]
Bengaluru Royal Challengers
Injury/Availability: The Royals do not have any injuries.
Strategies & Matchups: While Bumrah has been playing at the highest level this season, Kohli poses a formidable opponent with a strike rate of 152.17 against the MI bowler in the competition. Buckle up for an early-morning brawl between the two.
The probable starting eleven are: Saurav Chauhan, Reece Topley, Mayank Dagar, Mohammed Siraj, Yash Dayal, Faf du Plessis (c), Rajat Patidar, Glenn Maxwell, Cameron Green, Dinesh Karthik (wk), and Virat Kohli. [Impact Sub: Akash Deep or Mahipal Lomror].
As You May Remember:
– Glenn Maxwell hits the Wankhede Stadium at 178.02.
– At this location, Jasprit Bumrah has claimed 43 wickets in 37 games.
What they expressed:
“Our primary concern is ourselves. We clearly didn’t play our best cricket in the first three games, and now that we’re building momentum, this club has the potential to go on a true winning streak. We’re excited for that to occur.” Tim David, a batter for MI.
“Qualifying for the finals is still the aim, and we’re taking each game as it comes. We’re going to give it our all in hopes of winning tomorrow, and even if things don’t work out as planned, we can still qualify. Thus, I believe we’ll just approach each game individually.” – Bowler Reece Topley of RCB.
