Indian Premier League 2019 Match 7, Royal Challengers Bangalore vs Mumbai Indians: Preview, likely XIs, predictions

Royal Challengers Bangalore will host Mumbai Indians for the 7th match of IPL 2019 at M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru. Both sides will be a shot at redemption after their early defeats. At this stage, Bangalore are placed sixth out of eight teams, while Mumbai languish at the bottom.

Royal Challengers had a horror start to their IPL 2019 campaign. In the first match of the tournament, they were shot out for 70 by Chennai Super Kings at Chepauk. Barring Parthiv Patel (29), nobody reached double figures.

Mumbai’s total (176) does not seem that bad, but they had conceded 213/6. They finished with a net run rate of -1.85, worse than Bangalore’s -0.519.

Worse, Jasprit Bumrah picked up an injury while trying to stop a ball off his own bowling in the Delhi match. Bumrah has since done drills at the nets but not bowled. On a bright note, however, Mumbai will now have the services of Lasith Malinga throughout the tournament.

Yuvraj Singh (53 in 35) top-scored for Mumbai in the other night at Kotla. Rohit Sharma, Quinton de Kock, Kieron Pollard, and Krunal Pandya all played cameos, but none of them. However, that still puts them above Bangalore, who had a miserable outing.

Mumbai also have a superior bowling attack even if Bumrah does not play. Malinga showed glimpses of his old touch on the South Africa tour, while Rasikh Salam impressed on IPL debut. And then, there is also Mitchell McClenaghan, who somehow seems to pick up wickets at crucial moments.

Head to head

Mumbai hold a 14-9 lead over Bangalore. Both teams had finished in the bottom half of the table last year. They had met twice last year, and the home team had prevailed on both occasions.

Rohit (95 in 52 balls) and Evin Lewis (65 in 42) took Mumbai to 213/6 at Wankhede. Virat Kohli (92* in 62) batted through the 20 overs, but 167/8 was all Bangalore could manage against Krunal (3/28), McClenaghan (2/24), and Bumrah (2/28).

Back at Chinnaswamy, Bangalore posted matched their Wankhede total, Manan Vohra top-scoring with a 31-ball 45. However, the discipline of Tim Southee (2/25), Mohammed Siraj (2/28), Umesh Yadav (2/29), and Yuzvendra Chahal (4-0-23-0) restricted Mumbai to 153/7.

Key players

Yuzvendra Chahal (Royal Challengers Bangalore): Chahal is very difficult to put away on flat pitches; and on pitches that support him, he may run through. Set out to defend 71 in the tournament opener, Chahal opened bowling, bowled Shane Watson for a duck, and finished with 4-1-6-1. More is in store.

Mitchell McClenaghan (Mumbai Indians): For Mumbai,McClenaghan has taken a wicket every 16.8 balls. Only Malinga (16.6) has done better. He had given Mumbai an excellent start against Delhi, taking out Prithvi Shaw and Shreyas Iyer with his first 10 balls. He later returned to remove Keemo Paul. He may go for runs, but he will earn wickets for his captain.

Royal Challengers Bangalore: Virat Kohli (c), Parthiv Patel (wk), AB de Villiers, Shimron Hetmyer, Shivam Dube, Moeen Ali, Colin de Grandhomme, Navdeep Saini, Umesh Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Mohammed Siraj.

Mumbai Indians: Rohit Sharma (c), Quinton de Kock (wk), Suryakumar Yadav, Yuvraj Singh, Kieron Pollard, Krunal Pandya, Hardik Pandya, Mitchell McClenaghan, Lasith Malinga, Rasikh Salam, Mayank Markande.

Prediction

Mumbai to prevail, mostly because of their superior bowling attack.