RCB vs MI pits the two of the most successful IPL batters – Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli – against each other. The match will be held at the iconic Chinnaswamy Stadium on Sunday at 7:30 PM. It is the first time Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) will be playing in front of their home crowd since the 2019 season. Meanwhile, Mumbai Indians (MI) will want to start the season on a bright note after finishing bottom last season.
Royal Challengers Bangalore Overview
RCB retained 18 of its 25 players from last season. The two-team finalists will still rely heavily on Virat Kohli, Faf du Plessis, and Glenn Maxwell. The former RCB skipper had an excellent 2022, scoring a T20I hundred against Afghanistan in Asia Cup. Du Plessis, the RCB captain, scored 1352 runs at a strike rate of 141.86 in T20s in 2022. Meanwhile, Maxwell is fully fit after his freak accident and would be aiming to do better than his 2022 campaign.
Wanindu Hasaranga is the player to watch in RCB’s bowling department. The Sri Lankan all-rounder took 26 wickets and finished as the second-highest wicket-taker in IPL 2022. Shahbaz Ahmed is another slow bowling option, likely to make it to the playing 11. However, there are concerns about Josh Hazlewood’s participation. The Aussie pacer is still recovering from Achilles tendonitis. In his absence, an ever-improving Mohammed Siraj and Harshal Patel will be the key pace bowlers in the playing 11.
Mumbai Indians Overview
After two disappointing seasons, MI will be desperate to return to the playoffs. Though Jasprit Bumrah’s absence is a setback, the return of Jofra Archer is a massive relief to the franchise and its faithful. The record-breaking capture of Cameron Green adds more strength to the batting line-up, which has Rohit, Ishan Kishan, Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Varma, Tim David, Dewald Brevis, etc.
Apart from Archer, there are no world-class players in MI’s bowling unit. Jhye Richardson is ruled out, while Jason Behrendorff last played for Australia in April 2022. The spin bowling department lacks big names apart from Piyush Chawla, who didn’t play a single IPL game in the 2022 season. The MI think-tank will want one of the uncapped spinners to grab the spotlight this season.
RCB vs MI Head-to-Head
In the last meeting between the two teams, RCB eased past MI. Harshal and Hasaranga took two wickets each, while Anuj Rawat and Kohli shone with the bat.
RCB & MI IPL 2022 Stats
Look at last year’s IPL stats of RCB and MI.
- Top Run-scorer: Faf du Plessis – 468 runs (RCB); Ishan Kishan – 418 runs (MI)
- Most Wickets: Wanindu Hasaranga – 26 wickets (RCB); Jasprit Bumrah – 15 wickets (MI)
- Most Sixes: Dinesh Karthik – 22 sixes (RCB); Tim David & Tilak Varma – 16 sixes (MI)
RCB vs MI: Who will Win it?
Considering both teams’ strengths and weaknesses, predicting a clear winner in this match is difficult. However, MI’s overall record against RCB and the five-time winners’ squad strength in IPL 2023 give them a slight edge in this match. Nevertheless, fans of both teams will be hoping for an exciting game that goes down to the wire.
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