Mumbai Indians face uphill task against RCB

Beleaguered Mumbai Indians face an uphill task against batting-heavy Royal Challengers Bangalore in their IPL-9 game at Wankhede Stadium here on Wednesday. The visitors will be without out of form Chris Gayle who has returned home to see his new-born son.

The hosts are in a familiar territory as the previous two seasons. They have lost three games out of four and desperately need to find their feet in the tournament. At home, they have lost both games so far and will want a win in their penultimate game of the season at this venue.

MI’s batting has failed barring in the big chase against KKR at Eden Gardens. Skipper Rohit Sharma has flopped thrice as has Jos Buttler. But the duo played match-winning knocks against KKR. Kieron Pollard has struggled and did no travel to Hyderabad for the previous game due to “food poisoning”, replaced by Martin Guptill. Pollard is now available for selection but Guptill is likely to get a longer run to enable Rohit bat in the middle-order, coach Ricky Ponting hinted.

Hardik Pandya has had a forgetful IPL so far barring a couple moments of brilliances in the field. But his brother Krunal has given depth in both batting and bowling to the side in the last two games. Parthiv Patel has given starts and Ambati Rayudu has made the no. 3 spot his own for the next few games.

The bowling has gone reasonably well with Mitchell McClenaghan leading the pack. Tim Southee showed in the last game how lethal he can be if he finds swing. Spinners Harbhajan Singh and Pandya have bowled well in the middle overs. Jasprit Bumrah hasn’t hit the right areas on consistent basis.

RCB will be playing their first away game after winning one and losing one in Bengaluru. They scored 227 against Sunrisers Hyderabad and won by 45 runs, but against Delhi Daredevils they failed to defend a total of 191, exposing their bowling.

Skipper Virat Kohli has scored 154 runs and AB De Villiers 137 with two half centuries each. They have been involved in century stands twice. The duo put on a stupendous show last time around here with an unfinished 215-run partnership to take RCB to 235/1. AB smashed a 59-ball 133 while Kohli played second fiddle with a 50-ball 82 and they went on to win by 39 runs.

de Villiers then scored a 61-ball 119 in the decider of the five-match ODI series against India here and followed it up with quickfire 64 against Afghanistan in the World Twenty20 game recently to show his affinity for the Wankhede.

RCB’s batsmen failed to accelerate in the death overs against Delhi and they will want Shane Watson, Sarafraz Khan and Kedar Jadhav to fire to get a score in excess of 200.

Gayle’s absence means they can strengthen their bowling by bringing in Adam Milne or Kane Richardson after ton-up Quinton de Kock and half-centurion Karun Nair exposed chinks in their bowling on Sunday. RCB have an unused option in Varun Aaron. Parvez Rasool has done well with the ball while leggie Yuzvendra Chahal has gone for a few but was impressive last season.

Both teams have been hit hard by injuries. Lasith Malinga and Lendl Simmons have been ruled out for MI. RCB have lost Mitchell Starc and leg-spinner Samuel Badree is recuperating from a shoulder injury.