Mumbai Indians are under pressure. The five-time IPL champions have lost all their three games in the 2022 season so far. Taking on the Royal Challengers Bangalore at the MCA Stadium, Pune on Saturday, Rohit Sharma and co will look to score their first win.
This is not the first time MI have lost their first three games of the season. The Paltan had lost five in 2014 but managed to qualify for the playoffs. In 2015, when they were defeated in the first four, Mumbai went on to win the title. On Friday, skipper Rohit Sharma, in a video posted on the franchise’s social media handle, said that only hunger and desperation will get them wins.
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MI lost to the Delhi Capitals by four wickets. They were then defeated by the Rajasthan Royals by 23 runs before facing a five-wicket loss against the Kolkata Knight Riders.
However, Rohit Sharma and co have seen some brilliant individual shows. Ishan Kishan has already scored two half-centuries in the season and Tilak Varma looks good. Suryakumar Yadav made 52 runs off 36 balls in his first match of IPL 2022.
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Kieron Pollard, who made a 5-ball unbeaten 22-run cameo in the last match, is always a threat for rival bowling attack.
RCB, on the other hand, have registered two wins from three games. They lost their first one against the Punjab Kings but have then defeated KKR by three and the Rajasthan Royals by four wickets.
Teams (from): Royal Challengers Bangalore: Virat Kohli, Glenn Maxwell, Mohammed Siraj, Faf du Plessis (C), Harshal Patel, Wanindu Hasaranga, Dinesh Karthik, Josh Hazlewood, Shahbaz Ahmed, Anuj Rawat, Akash Deep, Mahipal Lomror, Finn Allen, Sherfane Rutherford, Jason Behrendorff, Suyash Prabhudesai, Chama Milind, Aneeshwar Gautam, Karn Sharma, David Willey, Rajat Patidar and Siddharth Kaul.
Mumbai Indians: Rohit Sharma (C), Anmolpreet Singh, Rahul Buddhi, Ramandeep Singh, SuryakumarYadav, Tilak Verma, Tim David, Arjun Tendulkar, Basil Thampi, Hrithik Shokeen, Jasprit Bumrah, Jaydev Unadkat, Jofra Archer, Mayank Markande, Murugan Ashwin, Riley Meredith, Tymal Mills, Arshad Khan, Daniel Sams, Dewald Brevis, Fabian Allen, Kieron Pollard, Sanjay Yadav, Aryan Juyal and Ishan Kishan.
Match starts at 3:30 PM.
