Five-time champions Mumbai Indians will be eager to bring their IPL 2025 campaign back on track when they take on Royal Challengers Bengaluru on Monday at the Wankhede Stadium. This match is going to be a special one for all the Indian fans as MI star pacer Jasprit Bumrah has been declared fit to play. With his presence confirmed by head coach Mahela Jayawardene ahead of the match, he has easily and well-deservedly stolen the spotlight from Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, two batting icons who will be battling it out in the match.
With three defeats in four games marking yet another poor start for the five-time winners, Mumbai Indians are grappling with batting woes. Only two MI batters have hit half-centuries so far in four matches, with Suryakumar Yadav and Ryan Rickelton recording one each.
Among all the 10 IPL teams, this is the least number of contributions in terms of fifties per batter.
At the centre of MI's struggles with the bat are former skipper Rohit Sharma, who missed the last game against Lucknow Super Giants due to a blow to his knee at the nets after a poor start to the IPL, and middle-order batter Tilak Varma, whose starts haven't converted into big scores.
For the visiting Royal Challengers Bengaluru, it would be an opportunity to exploit MI's batting frailties and pile up further pressure on their opponents.
Virat Kohli has blown hot and cold as he began this IPL with 59 not out against KKR but since then has struggled.
But RCB have enough firepower in their ranks to keep pushing for bigger totals, with Phil Salt and Devdutt Padikkal providing fireworks and skipper Rajat Patidar the necessary cushion if things are going against them.
RCB have a strong pace bowling attack in Josh Hazlewood and Bhuvneshwar
Read more on sports.ndtv.com
sports.ndtv.com
