What

The fortunes of the two teams competing in Match 38 of VIVO IPL 2017 are as different as day and night, as chalk and cheese; Mumbai Indians (7 wins, 2 losses) are sitting pretty in the top two places of the VIVO IPL 2017 standings, while Royal Challengers Bangalore lie closer to the floor of the table with just two wins from their ten matches.

MI must be riding high now, especially after their win against Gujarat Lions on Saturday night. It was a match that MI should have comfortably won, but to outclass two dangerous batsmen in a low-scoring Super Over just establishes how high on confidence the MI camp is. Complacency can very easily set in when a team is doing well, and hence that match against the Lions could just shake things up and remind the lads to not take things too lightly.

RCB, last season’s finalists, have had a largely forgettable season, and are on the brink; if it was the batting line-up that helped them charge to the final last season, the batsmen haven’t really turned up this season. RCB have lost 29 wickets while scoring 279 runs the last three times they’ve batted, and that by itself illustrates what has hurt the team. RCB are living on the edge now; there is an extremely miniscule chance that they can still qualify for the Playoffs, but they need to start winning first before they can even think about finishing in the top four.

When

1 May 2017, 1600 Hrs IST

Where

Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai

The Protagonists

The Wankhede Stadium, though it has provided bowlers pace and bounce, has generally been a venue where batsmen can play their shots. And hence the focus on the batsmen.

It can only augur well for a team – particularly in T20 cricket – if the batmen batting in the top three are a team’s top three run-getters. Nitish Raina, who has been used at number three, is MI’s top run-getter, while the two openers – Jos Buttler and Parthiv Patel - are joint second-highest. Rohit Sharma, the team’s biggest match-winner, is yet to come to the party, and the day the MI captain fires, chances are he will most-likely run away with the match.

In the RCB camp, one does not have to look beyond Virat Kohli – who has this never-ending hunger for runs and success. AB de Villiers has had three single-digit scores, and he must be itching to get a big one.

Match within the match

Samuel Badree and Yuzvendra Chahal against Rohit Sharma – given the MI captain’s poor record against leg-spinners this season, promises to make for an interesting contest. Last time these two teams met, Badree dismissed Rohit Sharma to complete his hat-trick.

Head to Head

Overall: Matches played – 20, Mumbai Indians Won – 12, Royal Challengers Bangalore Won – 8

Since 2014: Matches played – 7, Mumbai Indians Won – 5, Royal Challengers Bangalore Won – 2

Earlier this season, when these teams met at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru, MI got out of jail after they recovered from a disastrous 8 for 4, which became 33 for 5 a little while later, to chase down 143. Kieron Pollard top-scored in the chase with a mature 47-ball 70. For RCB, Virat Kohli (62) and Samuel Badree (hat-trick and figures of 4-1-9-4) were the standout performers.

Trivia

In IPL 2016, RCB had the highest scoring rate (9.62) and had lost the fewest wickets (71). This season, they’ve got the lowest scoring rate (7.69) and have lost the most wickets (58).

Mumbai Indians have been extremely stingy in conceding boundaries; their bowlers have the lowest boundary percentage of all teams this season – 52.84%. On the other hand, the MI batsmen have struck the most sixes this season – 68.

Samuel Badree has the highest dot ball percentage among the spin bowlers we’ve seen in action this season; batsmen have not scored off 48% of the balls he has bowled this season.

Kieron Pollard has scored more runs against RCB than against any other team he has played against in T20 cricket; the Trinidadian has scored 436 runs in 17 hits against RCB, at a strike-rate of 165.

What Next

For Mumbai Indians: Return fixture (Away) Vs. Delhi Daredevils, May 6 (8pm)

For Royal Challengers Bangalore: Return fixture (Home) Vs. Kings XI Punjab, May 5