IPL 2018, RCB vs MI Match 31 Preview

The crucial clash between MI and RCB will see the two teams in the bottom half of the table face off.

Three-time finalist, RCB will fight against the defending champions Mumbai Indians in an important clash of IPL 2018. The crucial clash between MI and RCB will see the two teams in the bottom half of the table face off.

RCB as a home team will be looking to pull things back as they didn't get momentum yet in this year’s IPL 2018. They tried with big and low batting line up but remained all in vain. RCB's big worry is their bowling line-up which didn't prove to be a great in the death overs. More ofen, their fielding let them down in the last couple of matches. But they have capability to win games with these circumstances. RCB played last match without their key player Ab de Villiers who is in a great hitting form. Hopefully he will play this time against Mumbai Indians.

Both Teams have not produced winning combinations yet in this season

On the other hand, Mumbai Indians are not doing well in this season as they lost 5 games. But they won their match against the top table team Chennai Super Kings which will give them great boost up. Mumbai's captain Rohit Sharma came up the order and win the game for his side. Mumbai's key problems are their top order and lower order batting. Although their top order performed in last couple of matches but their lower order particularly All-rounders are not doing well in this season. They lost wickets in last overs that's why they didn't get good scores after great start.

Weather

The temperature should be around 30 degrees Celsius. The humidity levels will hover at around the 51% mark. There is no forecast of rain. The weather will be a bit hazy with a cloud cover of 39%.

Pitch report

With a bit of rain in last two days, the pitch offered during the game might be on the softer side. However, spinners might get some help from the surface in the second innings.

Head-to-head

MI 14 - RCB 8. MI have a good edge over RCB with fourteen wins in comparison to eight wins for the latter.

Important Stats

1 – Rohit Sharma needs to hit one more size to complete 300 sixes in the history of T20 cricket. He will become the seventh player in the history of T20 cricket to hit 300 or more sixes.

3 – AB de Villiers needs to hit three more sixes to surpass Rohit Sharma on the list of most IPL sixes. Smashing these sixes, de Villiers will acquire the second position on the list of most IPL sixes.

6 – Virat Kohli needs six more sixes to surpass MS Dhoni on the list of most IPL sixes. Smashing these sixes, Virat Kohli will acquire the fifth position on the list of most IPL sixes.

11 – Virat Kohli is just eleven runs behind Suresh Raina to become the all-time highest run-getter in the history of IPL.

Probably XIs 

Royal Challengers Bangalore:

 1 Quinton de Kock (wk), 2 Virat Kohli (capt), 3 AB de Villiers, 4 Manan Vohra, 5 Mandeep Singh, 6 Colin de Grandhomme, 7 Tim Southee, 8 M Ashwin, 9 Umesh Yadav, 10 Yuzvendra Chahal, 11 Mohammed Siraj

Mumbai Indians: 

1 Suryakumar Yadav, 2 Evin Lewis, 3 Rohit Sharma (capt), 4 Ishan Kishan (wk), 5 JP Duminy, 6 Hardik Pandya, 7 Krunal Pandya, 8 Ben Cutting, 9 Mitchell McClenaghan, 10 Mayank Markande, 11 Jasprit Bumrah

Previous meeting

Rohit Sharma's 94 off 52 propelled Mumbai to 213 for 6. With wickets tumbling at the other end, Virat Kohli's rather more pedestrian 92 off 62 ended up as an exercise to minimise Royal Challengers' net-run-rate damage.