Mumbai, Apr 11: They are very popular teams with iconic players. While one of those two teams have been the maximum title winners in the Indian Premier League (IPL) history, the other one still is striving for its first IPL trophy.
The two teams have multiple stars who have led their national sides and have even some of the biggest stars of the present generation cricketers. But in 2024 IPL season, there has been one commonality between these two premier IPL teams - only single victories from multiple outings.
On Thursday evening, when Mumbai Indians (MI) and Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) face each other at Wankhede Stadium, here both sides would be desperate to win and improve their position in the Points Table.
Mumbai Indians have played four matches so far and won just one win. Their proven old match-winner but new captain Hardik Pandya has been booed by MI fans, who believe their former captain Rohit Sharma, who happens to be Team India's present skipper, has unnecessary been targeted and removed from MI captainship.
Unhappy Mumbai franchise fans, understandably have been venting their ire at Pandya, who was Gujarat Titans (GT) skipper for last two seasons. Well, Pandya led GT to title win in 2022 and they were runners-up last season too. Him quitting GT has also not gone well with Gujarat franchise supporters, who also booed him this year in Ahmedabad.
Reaction of fans is part of cricket. But when MI meet RCB on Thursday evening in Mumbai, both captains Pandya and Faf du Plessis (RCB leader) would be very keen to win the match. There is no disagreement on that.
MI comes into this game on the back of its first win of the season against the Delhi Capitals, while RCB lost to Rajasthan royals in its previous match.
The two teams have met 32 times in the tournament so far. Mumbai Indians have emerged victorious in 18 matches, while Royal Challengers Bangalore have won 13.
MI v RCB head-to-head 32
Mumbai Indians: 18
Royal Challengers Bengaluru: 13
No result: 1
Match time: The Match starts at 7:30 PM IST (2:00 PM GMT) with toss taking place half an hour prior to the match i.e., 7:00 PM (1:30 PM GMT)
Match venue: Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai
Live broadcast on television in India: MI v RCB match will be broadcast live via Star Sports Network.
Live stream in India: The live streaming of MI v RCB will be available on JioCinema.
Squads:
Royal Challengers Bangalore: Virat Kohli, Faf du Plessis(c), Rajat Patidar, Glenn Maxwell, Cameron Green, Dinesh Karthik(w), Saurav Chauhan, Reece Topley, Mayank Dagar, Mohammed Siraj, Yash Dayal, Himanshu Sharma, Suyash Prabhudessai, Mahipal Lomror, Vijaykumar Vyshak, Swapnil Singh, Karn Sharma, Tom Curran, Lockie Ferguson, Alzarri Joseph, Will Jacks, Anuj Rawat, Manoj Bhandage, Akash Deep, Rajan Kumar.
Mumbai Indians: Rohit Sharma, Ishan Kishan(w), Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya(c), Tim David, Romario Shepherd, Mohammad Nabi, Piyush Chawla, Gerald Coetzee, Jasprit Bumrah, Akash Madhwal, Kwena Maphaka, Naman Dhir, Nehal Wadhera, Shams Mulani, Shreyas Gopal, Luke Wood, Vishnu Vinod, Arjun Tendulkar, Kumar Kartikeya, Shivalik Sharma, Anshul Kamboj, Nuwan Thushara, Dewald Brevis.
The promoters of IPL 2024 might be busy presenting it as a 'Ro-Ko' contest (match-up between MI's Rohit Sharma and RCB's Virat Kohli), but both teams have several match-winners in their ranks. Anyone of those stars can win a T20 match on his own on his day. (With IANS support)
