IPL 2018, Match 31, RCB vs MI, Match Prediction: Who will win the match today, Royal Challengers Bangalore or Mumbai Indians?

The Mumbai Indians and the Royal Challengers Bangalore go head to head at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium tomorrow and it will be a bottom of the table clash as the two teams are positioned at no. 6 and no. 7 respectively, but it’s still a much-anticipated encounter because of the popularity of the two teams among the fans.

Mumbai have secured only two victories in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 11 so far and one of them has come against RCB when they met them at the Wankhede Stadium a couple of weeks back. They will have fond memories of that fixture and they will be high on confidence as they step into the return leg tomorrow.

The Royal Challengers Bangalore, on the other hand, has had a couple of poor results of late and that too at home. So they will be under a lot of pressure, but they will have to gather themselves and try and turn it around somehow as it’s the crunch stage of the tourney now.

Pitch and Conditions

The Chinnaswamy stadium pitch this whole season has helped the spinners. Not only has the ball gripped, it has spun a long way as well and whichever spinner has got it right in terms of the areas has got his reward.

However, despite the pitch assisting the spinners, most of the games at this venue have been turning out to be high scoring ones simply because of the conditions and the dimensions of the ground.

While the dew nullifies the slowness of the pitch in the latter stages of the game, the altitude takes the half-hits over the fence leading to more no. of sixes being hit here than the other grounds. Keeping all the factors in mind, the par score should be around 180.

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Playing Combination

Royal Challengers Bangalore

Probable Changes – Murugan Ashwin out, Washington Sundar in

Murugan Ashwin bowled decently last night against KKR, but his fielding lapses cost RCB dearly. He dropped Chris Lynn early in his innings and that proved to be a match losing error. However, there are more reasons for his exclusion from the XI  than just poor fielding.

If Ashwin is slotted at no. 7, RCB’s tail gets a tad too long as he is only a bowling all-rounder, unlike Washington Sundar who is more of a batting all-rounder. Also, the fact that Mumbai has 4 left-handers in their line-up means Virat Kohli will be better off having an off-spinner at his disposal in the form of Sundar.

AB de Villiers sat out of the last game because of viral fever and with this game being scheduled just 48 hours later, the chances are slim that he would be fully recovered in time.

Predicted XI: Quinton de Kock (WK), Brendon McCullum, Virat Kohli (C), Manan Vohra, Mandeep Singh, Colin de Grandhomme, Washington Sundar, Tim Southee, Umesh Yadav, Mohammed Siraj, Yuzvendra Chahal

Mumbai Indians

Probable Changes – No Change

Mumbai strengthened their batting the other evening against CSK and went with an extra batsman in JP Duminy. While Duminy didn’t have the chance to bat, the combination, as a whole worked, as they ended up with a comfortable victory and they, in all likelihood, won’t want to tinker with the winning combination.

Relying on Ben Cutting, Hardik Pandya and Krunal Pandya to bowl 8 overs together, they are surely a bit light on the bowling front. But that’s the game plan they seem to have decided to go ahead with for the time being and while it’s a bit risky, they might get away with it if the other three specialist bowlers are at their absolute best.

Predicted XI: Evin Lewis, Surya Kumar Yadav, Ishan Kishan (WK), Rohit Sharma (C), JP Duminy, Krunal Pandya, Ben Cutting, Hardik Pandya, Mitchell McClenaghan, Mayank Markande, Jasprit Bumrah

Team Comparison

RCB still seems to be searching for their death bowlers and that’s a massive issue for them as all the hard work they are putting in during the middle phase of the innings is getting wasted in the last 4 overs.

Batting wise, it’s needless to say they are almost half a batting side in the absence of AB de Villiers even though Virat Kohli is in decent nick and got a fifty against KKR. The impetus de Villiers provides to RCB with his multi-dimensional play and his extraordinary ability to find boundaries is unmatchable.

Mumbai Indians’ weakness is those 8 overs which will have to be completed by three all-rounders and that’s where the RCB batsmen will be setting their eyes on. It, however, can go either way. While it might give RCB a match-winning push, it might fetch Mumbai some wickets as well and turn the slide in their favour.

Probable Top Performers

Mohammed Siraj (Chennai Super Kings), Surya Kumar Yadav (Mumbai Indians)

Head to Head

Matches – 22, Royal Challengers Bangalore – 8, Mumbai Indians – 14

The timing of the match: 08:00 pm IST

Broadcast Details

TV – Star Sports 1, Star Sports Hindi, Star Sports Select 1

Online – Jio TV, Hotstar

The prediction is for the Mumbai Indians to beat the Royal Challengers Bangalore in this match.