Mumbai, April 6: Struggling Mumbai Indians will hope the batters will get their act together to shoulder responsibility when they take on an inspired Royal Challengers Bengaluru in an Indian Premier League match here on Monday.
With three defeats in four games marking yet another poor start for the five-time winners, Mumbai Indians are grappling with batting woes. Only two MI batters have hit half-centuries so far in four matches, with Suryakumar Yadav and Ryan Rickelton recording one each.
Among all the 10 IPL teams, this is the least number of contributions in terms of fifties per batter.
Scoring fifties has always been tough in T20 cricket, but IPL teams have increasingly moved towards being top-heavy with their best batters getting most overs to face and looking to bat through.At the centre of MI’s struggles with the bat are former skipper Rohit Sharma, who missed the last game against Lucknow Super Giants due to a blow to his knee at the nets after a poor start to the IPL, and middle-order batter Tilak Varma, whose starts haven’t converted into big scores. It remains to be seen if Rohit is fit for the clash against RCB but MI will certainly need a quick fix to their batting woes and would need Suryakumar to continue doing the heavy lifting.
With 177 runs to his kitty, the India T20I captain has been MI’ best batter this season. His maiden half-century gave MI the glimmer of hope for a win over LSG, but it corresponded with Tilak’s failure to accelerate which left the lower order with an uphill task in the chase.
Despite skipper Hardik Pandya’s five-for, GT accumulated a total which was also beyond MI as they lacked a hard-hitting batter lower in the order.
Pandya struck a valiant 16-ball 28 but got no support from the other end.MI’s only win so far came last week over Kolkata Knight Riders at the Wankhede, which would certainly spur the confidence of the Pandya-led side to put up a unified show again.For the visiting Royal Challengers Bengaluru, it would be an opportunity to exploit MI’s batting frailties and pile up further pressure on their opponents.Virat Kohli has blown hot and cold as he began this IPL with 59 not out against KKR but since then has struggled.But RCB have enough firepower in their ranks to keep pushing for bigger totals, with Phil Salt and Devdutt Padikkal providing fireworks and skipper Rajat Patidar the necessary cushion if things are going against them.
Tim David could prove to be a vital cog in this RCB line up.
The former MI player knows this ground well and its short boundaries will give the burly Australian another chance to play an explosive knock, something which he has done several times in the past for his former side.RCB have a strong pace bowling attack in Josh Hazlewood and Bhuvneshwar Kumar providing control at the top, but spin bowlers are yet to make their mark.RCB are placed at third position in the points table and would be keen to bounce back from their loss to Gujarat Titans in their last outing.With both teams desperate to rediscover their rhythm, Monday’s clash at the Wankhede promises to be a battle of intent and execution. For Royal Challengers Bengaluru, it’s an opportunity to tighten their grip on a top-four spot and exploit MI’s inconsistency. (PTI)
