It will be interesting to see how the Mumbai Indians captain and Royal Challengers Bangalore veteran—two of the best batsmen of the current generation—perform in Pune tonight as both haven’t got big scores in IPL-15 so far
MI skipper Rohit Sharma; (right) RCB’s Virat Kohli
Starting your campaign with three losses on the trot is never ideal for a team. And then to face a side that has won two out of its first three games doesn’t make things any easier. That’s the kind of challenge Mumbai Indians will face when they take on Royal Challengers Bangalore in their fourth league game of IPL-15 at the MCA Stadium here on Saturday.
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It’s a game that has often been described as the Rohit Sharma v Virat Kohli battle. And although Kohli is not the RCB skipper any more, it will be interesting to see how two of the best Indian batsmen of the current generation perform, because their teams depend on them quite heavily.
Similar starts
Both have had somewhat similar starts to their campaign this season; both are yet to come up with an impactful performance. Rohit’s season so far has seen scores of 41, 10 and three, while Kohli’s three outings have yielded 58 runs (41, 12 and five).
Kohli’s lack of runs, especially in the last two games haven’t affected RCB much, as the likes of Dinesh Karthik and Shahbaz Ahmed got the job done for the team. And with Glen Maxwell being available for Saturday’s game, their batting will get a further boost.
On the other hand, Rohit’s lack of runs have comparatively affected Mumbai Indians a lot more. The Mumbai Indians have lacked the kind of fiery start that they are used to seeing from their skipper, despite his opening partner Ishan Kishan being in top form. And that has affected the final tally, as Mumbai Indians have come up around 20-25 runs short of the par score in two of the three games so far.
MI bowling, a concern
The other aspect that Mumbai Indians must work hard on is their bowling that has failed to click as a unit. Foreign recruits—Daniel Sams and Tymal Mills—have had little success on pitches that don’t really suit them. It will be interesting to see if the MI team management opts for the extra pace of Riley Meredith, in place of either Sams or Mills.
“It’s been a real mixed bag from us I suppose as a bowling unit,” MI bowling coach Shane Bond said on the eve of the match against RCB. “You look at the last game [v KKR]; the first 10 overs were fantastic. We had a couple of overs that got away from us. It’s been a little bit of a pattern for us,” said Bond, adding however, that the solution to the problem is not difficult.
“It’s a simple fix really. If we can stick to our plans and stick to the areas we want to bowl when the pressure comes on, then I think you’ll see a turnaround,” he concluded.
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