For the 18th day of the tournament, we have Royal Challengers Bangalore going against the Mumbai Indians.
It is Day 18 of the 2022 edition of the Indian Premier League, and the fans are all hyped up. Every team is going at it with all they’ve got to win every single match and get on top of the leaderboard. On the one hand, the batters battle it out for the orange cap. On the other hand, the bowlers keep flying off wickets for the purple cap.
Furthermore, this tournament got a lot more exciting as this year, two new teams are part of the format now- Lucknow and Ahmedabad
The Fixture
Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) have won two games thus far and lost one. The two victories came in tight chases, which should be relatively comfortable. Their batting hasn’t peaked yet, and therefore the franchise would do far better if the large guns fired.
Mumbai Indians have had a torrid time within the league thus far. Rohit Sharma and his men have lost all three of their matches. They need to bat decently on all three occasions, though with a lack of firepower. However, the bowlers did not exert much pressure. The five-time champions got to play far better than that to revive their campaign.
In all the editions of the IPL, RCB and MI have gone head to head on 29 occasions.
Out of the 29, Mumbai Indians have won 17, and the Royal Challengers Bangalore, 12.
Dinesh Karthik has been RCB’s most consistent batter within the tournament thus far. He played a finisher’s role and helped Bangalore get past the finishing line within the last two matches.
Harshal Patel was the Purple Cap winner last season. He has kept himself engaged within the wickets tally this point around also. The medium-pacer has thus far registered four scalps to his name from three outings. He finished with figures of two /11 against KKR from his four overs at an economy rate of 2.8.
Fans will expect these top performers of their teams to perform and win the match.
Pune Pitch Report
The batters would be looking at a beautiful on the Pune wicket. However, the bowlers would be aiming for quick wickets early. The humidity will rise because the contest progresses, making it difficult for the bowlers to stay the ball dry. Therefore, the captain winning the toss will look to bowl first.
Possible Playing XI
Royal Challengers Bangalore
Faf du Plessis (c), Anuj Rawat, Virat Kohli, Glenn Maxwell, Dinesh Karthik, David Willey, Wanindu Hasaranga, Shahbaz Ahmed, Harshal Patel, Mohammed Siraj, Akash Deep
Mumbai Indians
Rohit Sharma (c), Ishan Kishan, Dewald Brevis, Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Varma, Kieron Pollard, Fabian Allen, Murugan Ashwin, Jasprit Bumrah, Tymal Mills, Jaydev Unadkat
