The Indian Premier League 2018 has not been a happy story for Royal Challengers Bangalore or Mumbai Indians. They are two of the most high profile teams in the competition and also the ones that have disappointed their fans the most.
RCB and Mumbai Indians, despite their star studded names, have had only two wins out of 7 games each. That is atrocious, no matter how you look at it. This clash between the two sides is important because the team that loses this one is effectively out of the IPL 2018. That would be disastrous for the big players in these teams and their gigantic egos!
But both Mumbai Indians and RCB have only themselves to blamce for where they are right now. RCB for example, made a selection howler when they sold Chris Gayle and KL Rahul and retained, believe it or not, Sarfraz Nawaz!
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Mumbai are at fault for reposing too much faith in Kieron Pollard and the Pandya Brothers, who have failed this season. The Pandya brothers – Hardik and Krunal – have held on to their spots, but Pollard has been given the sack.
Royal Challengers have strengthened their bowling attack by including Tim Southee but they still could not defend a 200+ score against Chennai Super Kings. They also lost the game against Kolkata Knight Riders.
Really, Virat Kohli is the best player in the world, and is the captain of the Indian team. He has been on the RCB team throughout his IPL career of 11 years, and ended on a disappointing note each year. This must be a big blow to his ego. Perhaps Kohli has to look for a different IPL team next season. Someone like him deserves much better.
For RCB, AB de Villiers did not play the last game because of a viral fever. We hope ABD recovers for this game as he is one of the three players (the other two being Chris Gayle and Andre Russell) who make this IPL worth watching.
Prediction: Mumbai Indians won the last game, which should be a big relief for them. They will desperately want to win again. RCB won’t give up without a fight, especially if Kohli and ABD have anything to do with it. Tight contest, Mumbai might just edge this one.
The Teams
Royal Challengers Bangalore: 1 Quinton de Kock (wk), 2 Virat Kohli (capt), 3 AB de Villiers, 4 Manan Vohra, 5 Mandeep Singh, 6 Colin de Grandhomme, 7 Tim Southee, 8 M Ashwin, 9 Umesh Yadav, 10 Yuzvendra Chahal, 11 Mohammed Siraj
Mumbai Indians: 1 Suryakumar Yadav, 2 Evin Lewis, 3 Rohit Sharma (capt), 4 Ishan Kishan (wk), 5 JP Duminy, 6 Hardik Pandya, 7 Krunal Pandya, 8 Ben Cutting, 9 Mitchell McClenaghan, 10 Mayank Markande, 11 Jasprit Bumrah
Watch Royal Challengers Bangalore play Mumbai Indians tonight at 8 pm Live on Star Sports!
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