When the two sides square off in an Indian Premier League game in Mumbai on Sunday, the struggling Mumbai Indians will need to bring their “A-game” to the competition in order to halt the juggernaut of Rajasthan Royals.
With some incredible performances, like their lopsided victory over Chennai Super Kings, RR is currently leading the table.
The Sanju Samson-led team is in excellent form and has been providing in all aspect of the game despite losing two of their past three games.
However, MI faces serious problems, particularly with their death bowling, which cost them their last two losses in high-scoring contests.
Last weekend’s game between Punjab Kings and MI at the Wankhede Stadium was won by Punjab Kings thanks to a staggering 96 runs that MI’s bowlers let up in the last 30 balls.
As if that weren’t enough, MI lost to the reigning champion Gujarat Titans by 70 runs in the final 24 balls.
Given that RR’s batting has been reliable enough, MI will need more from their top order, but the challenge on Sunday night will be to present a united front.
To assist MI revive their campaign, in particular, Rohit Sharma, Ishan Kishan, and Suryakumar Yadav will need to be fired.
The Mumbai team is mired in the bottom of the standings after the first half of the competition, where they are now ranked eighth.
It is unknown whether Jofra Archer would play in the match against his old team Rajasthan in the bowling department.
The English pacer, who is far from being healthy, has had to spend additional time healing from his season-long elbow issues as well as a sickness that prevented him from playing against Gujarat Titans.
Arjun Tendulkar, Riley Meredith, and Jason Behrendorff are a few pricey examples.
On the other side, RR will try to capitalise on MI’s weaknesses.
RR has the batting lineup firepower to amass a total of about 200 on the batting-friendly surface.
Sanju Samson, Devdutt Padikkal, Shimron Hetmyer, and Dhruv Jurel are among of the players in the middle for RR, who also boast an experienced top pair in Jos Buttler and Yashasvi Jaiswal.
The Royals’ season-saving discovery has been the right-handed, uncapped Jurel, who routinely makes rapid runs.
The spin combo of Yuzvendra Chahal and Ravichandran Ashwin, who have so far claimed a combined 23 wickets in eight games, is without a doubt RR’s strongest aspect of the bowling squad.
Trent Boult, a left-arm fast bowler, has shown remarkable early in the season. With nine wickets in six games, the Kiwi has emerged as one of RR’s strongest weapons.
groups (from)
Arjun Tendulkar, Ramandeep Singh, Shams Mulani, Riley Meredith Nehal Wadhera, Hrithik Shokeen, Arshad Khan, Duan Jansen, Piyush Chawla, Kumar Kartikeya, Raghav Goyal, Jofra Archer, Jason Behrendorff, and Akash Madhwal are the members of the Mumbai Indians. Rohit Sharma is the captain.
Rajasthan Royals: Joe Root, Kuldeep Sen, Akash Vashist, Kuldip Yadav, Adam Zampa, Abdul Basith, Dhruv Jorel, Riyan Parag, Trent Boult, Sandeep Sharma, Yuzvendra Chahal, and M Ashwin.
