When the Mumbai Indians and Rajasthan Royals square off in an Indian Premier League game on Sunday, the struggling Mumbai Indians will need to bring their “A-game” to the contest in order to stop the juggernaut.
With some incredible performances, like their lopsided victory over Chennai Super Kings, RR is currently leading the table. The Sanju Samson-led team is in excellent form and has been providing in all aspect of the game despite dropping two of their last three games.
Given that RR’s batting has been reliable enough, MI will need more from their top order, but the challenge on Sunday night will be to present a united front. To assist MI revive their campaign, in particular, Rohit Sharma, Ishan Kishan, and Suryakumar Yadav will need to be fired.
The Mumbai team remains mired at the bottom of the standings after the first half of the competition, where it is currently ranked ninth. It is unknown if Jofra Archer will play in the match against Rajasthan, his previous team, in the bowling department. The English pacer, who is far from fully healthy, has had to spend extra time rehabilitating from his elbow issues this season and an illness that prevented him from playing against the Gujarat Titans.
On the other hand, RR will look to make the most of the frailties of MI. RR have the firepower in their batting line-up to pile up a total of around 200 on the batting-friendly surface here. RR have an assured pairing of Jos Buttler and Yashasvi Jaiswal at the top, and in the middle they have the likes of Sanju Samson, Devdutt Padikkal, and Shimron Hetmyer, followed by Dhruv Jurel.
The Royals’ season-saving discovery has been the right-handed, uncapped Jurel, who consistently makes rapid runs. The spin combo of Yuzvendra Chahal and Ravichandran Ashwin, who have so far claimed a combined 23 wickets in eight games, is without a doubt RR’s strongest aspect of the bowling squad. Trent Boult, a Kiwi left-arm fast bowler, has proven to be RR’s most effective weapon, taking nine wickets in six games while beginning the innings with a brilliant performance.