🏏IPL 2023: Mumbai Indians vs Royal Challengers Bangalore, Match:54🏏

Self-belief and hard work will always earn you success. On the field, aggression can sometimes be a positive emotion.

Virat Kohli

🏏IPL 2023: Mumbai Indians vs Royal Challengers Bangalore, 54th Match 🏏

Tag & Logo Credit: Sevenstreaks

The IPL 2023 will see its fifty-fourth match of this season between Mumbai Indians and Royal Challengers Bangalore.

Mumbai Indians vs Royal Challengers Bangalore has been one of the most anticipated games of the IPL 2023 at the Wankhede and no surprise there that it will be a full house today.

In popularity charts, the marquee contest would go down as the second-most high-profile match-up of the season in the city, the first, of course, is the one against Chennai Super Kings, which has already been played.😊

The two teams have played 31 matches in the IPL to date, in which MI has prevailed in 17 matches, while RCB have emerged victorious 14 times. Hence, the head-to-head record of MI vs RCB stands at 17-14.

Mumbai Indians is currently placed at the sixth position on the points' table of this season of IPL whereas Royal Challengers Bangalore is currently placed at the fifth spot on the points table.

Mumbai Indians played ten matches in this season of the IPL where they managed to win five matches while Royal Challengers Bangalore also played ten matches in this season where they, too, won five games.

Mumbai Indians played their last game against Chennai Super Kings where Chennai Super Kings beat them by 6 wickets. Nehal Wadhera managed to score 64 runs for Mumbai Indians in that game.

On the other hand, Royal Challengers Bangalore played their last game against Delhi Capitals where Delhi Capitals beat them by 7 wickets.

Virat Kohli and Mahipal Lomror smacked 55 runs and 54 runs respectively for Royal Challengers Bangalore in that game.

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PS: Don't forget to send your predictions for Match 54

Deadline for toss prediction: 7:00PM IST

Deadline for rest of the predictions: 7:30PM IST

Make sure you hit "Submit prediction" button for initial predictions and "Update Prediction" button after making any subsequent changes to register your predictions.

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Match 54 Pitch Report:

The surface of Wankhede is a batting-friendly one, and it assists the batters throughout the game. Short boundaries and quick outfield act as catalysts for high scores.

There is very limited help for the bowlers early on this surface. However, there will be a decent amount of assistance for the Pacers as the game progresses. The team winning the toss is likely to chase at this ground.

Average 1st innings score:

The average first-innings score on this wicket is 180 runs.

Record of chasing teams:

The team batting second has great records here. They have maintained a winning percentage of 60 on this ground.

Good luck to RCB and FAF🥳

Match 54 Probable XIs:

Mumbai Indians: Rohit Sharma©, Ishan Kishan(wk), Cameron Green, Suryakumar Yadav, Nehal Wadhera, Tim David, Tristan Stubbs, Arshad Khan, Jofra Archer, Piyush Chawla, Akash Madhwal, Raghav Goyal

Royal Challengers Bangalore: Faf du Plessis©, Virat Kohli, Anuj Rawat, Glenn Maxwell, Mahipal Lomror, Dinesh Karthik(wk), Kedar Jadhav, Wanindu Hasaranga, Karn Sharma, Mohammed Siraj, Josh Hazlewood, Harshal Patel

A Few Players Stats:

Players Stats

Faf du Plessis 511 runs
Virat Kohli 419 runs
Glenn Maxwel l262 runs and 2 wickets
Cameron Green 272 runs and 5 wickets

---------- A few players to watch today.....

Batsmen – Virat Kohli, Faf du Plessis, Suryakumar Yadav

All-rounders – Glenn Maxwell (vc), Wanindu Hasaranga, Cameron Green (c)

Bowlers – Piyush Chawla, Josh Hazlewood, Mohammad Siraj, Harshal Patel

With both teams on even keel on the points table, the star-studded match gains extra significance and no doubt it could rise to the levels of intensity that is expected at the business-end of the competition. Both would be trying to wriggle out of the mid-table muddle.

On the eve of the game, there are some troubling questions for hosts Mumbai Indians with avoidable scrutiny on Rohit Sharma.

The captain's continued poor run in the season was the immediate point of debate, leaving ephemerally aside the more important assignments - the World Test Championship and the World Cup - in the longer run.

Just 184 runs in 10 games and the 40th position among top scorers' list of the IPL 2023 are not worthy of the batter that he has been. More prominently, he has just two half centuries in 33 IPL games.

Further dissection points to only two scores of over 50 runs in the last three IPL seasons.

Rohit has not exactly followed that advice but he changed his batting order from the top of the line-up and pushed himself down to No 3 in the previous game. But with very little success.

A skipper in a happy space puts the team too in a happy space and Rohit's form may be reflecting on the points table for MI - 10 points from 10 games and the sixth place. That is a precarious position for a team that has won the IPL five times. But the team said it is fully behind the off-colour skipper.

"Absolutely not (worried about his form). A legend that Rohit is, especially with Mumbai and everything that he has done in his career, we actually back him. He could come back into the form any time. So far, he has batted beautifully in a few games, showing really good tempo at the top, so we are absolutely backing him.," Cameron Green, who opened in place Rohit in the previous game said of the beleaguered skipper who would know that he needs to fire for the franchise on Tuesday night to win the vital game and move up in the points table.

Royal Challengers Bangalore are coming to the contest on the back of a defeat but they may, nevertheless, be having a slight edge over the home team. With key batsmen - Virat Kohli and Faf du Plessis - among runs and Mahipal Lomror also joining the party, RCB could be in a happy space. They would be expecting more meaty contributions from Dinesh Karthik as well as Maxwell.

Their bowling has got the added firepower in the form of Josh Hazlewood, who combines well with Mohammed Siraj and Wanindu Hasaranga, who have done well for the franchise so far. But with the Impact Player rule, this has largely been a batsmen's season and the bowlers, more often than not, have been sent to cleaners. The script is unlikely to be different on Tuesday night.

Kedar Jadhav felt the same. "The impact player rule has made the teams and players braver and fearless. They have an extra batter as a cushion, so obviously they are expressing more and instead of 180 there are more totals above 200," the latest entrant to RCB said on the eve of the game.

Mumbai Indians

Tactics and match-ups: Jofra Archer was taken down by RCB's openers the last time these two faced off in the season, but it remains a match-up particularly against Faf du Plessis who he has dismissed twice in 22 balls. The other match-up would be that between Piyush Chawla and Glenn Maxwell. The latter has only single-digit scores in away games so far but the conditions at Wankhede could suit his style of play. Against Chawla, there could be fireworks one way or another. He has been dismissed three times in 36 balls but has a strike-rate of 150 against the spinner.

Team news: Tilak Varma, one of the main contributors with the bat for Mumbai this season, is expected to feature in the XI after having missed the last game vs CSK. The big point, however, is whether Rohit open the batting or will he play at No 3, like in the last game.

Royal Challengers Bangalore

Tactics and match-ups: Fad and Kohli have nine fifties between them at Wankhede and come into this game on the back of some imperious form. They could be targeted early by MI with spin, from Chawla. With the ball RCB might be looking at the Harshal vs Rohit match-up, with the bowler having gotten him thrice in 22 balls. They'd also be hoping for Hasaranga to join the party at the venue where he's picked up a five-fer previously.

Team news: Karn Sharma may make way for a batsman in the RCB line-up or come in as an Impact Player. Kedar Jadhav, the late entrant to the Bengaluru squad, should retain his place in the side.

Did you know

- Harshal Patel has 21 wickets in just 12 outings against Mumbai Indians in the IPL

- Suryakumar Yadav has a strike-rate of 200 against Mohammad Siraj

What they said

Our discussions have been to play the same way, be aggressive in the powerplay. The message from the coaching staff is to show the same intent. We've got some incredibly experienced guys, especially around me at the top. We've got Ishan and Rohit, who play for India. We've got SKY after me, so there are a lot of good cricket brains going around. I have had an incredible experience. Mumbai has treated me beautifully. Hopefully I can replay the faith - Cameron Green, MI all-rounder

That is the tagline of RCB is to play bold. I think it came from only Virat Kohli. He has a strong personality, likes to lead from the front. Whatever it is, batting or bowling, he wants to contribute to winning games whichever teams he plays for. It definitely rubs off on the team. The players want to perform close to that level, or close to that intensity he brings in, in his batting or when he is practicing - Kedar Jadhav, RCB batsman.

Go RCB🥳.

thanks for the tag😊