MUMBAI: Mumbai Indians will have no time to lick their wounds as they get ready to play their third match in five days.
They will take on Royal Challengers Bangalore at Wankhede Stadium on Monday, just 48 hours after slumping to a four-wicket defeat against Rajasthan Royals.
While Mumbai lost their first match in four games, against Rajasthan, on Saturday, Bangalore registered their first win of this season by beating Kings XI Punjab in Mohali by eight wickets, later in the day.
Having lost their first six matches, Bangalore were hanging on to the hope of making it to the knockouts by a thread.
And on Saturday, their two leading players, Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers, finally came good to guide the team to victory.
Chasing down 174, captain Kohli gave the team a strong start with 67 off 53, while De Villiers stayed on till the end to score an unbeaten 59 and take the team over the finish line with four balls to spare.
Mumbai will be wary of Kohli and De Villiers returning to match-winning form. Especially the latter. The South African has scored a few famous knocks at Wankhede Stadium in recent past.
During a round-robin game in 2015, De Villiers was at his explosive best, carting the ball to all parts of the ground to score an unbeaten 133 off 59. Bangalore scored a mammoth 235/1 on the day and defeated Mumbai by 39 runs.
A few months later, while playing an ODI against India, De Villiers scored a 61-ball 119 to help South Africa to 438/4. The Indian innings was done at 224 in 36 overs.
Despite the danger looming in the opposition camp, Mumbai first have to set their house straight. Even though they have won four of their seven matches, Mumbai’s batsmen have been in patchy form and have not yet clicked as a unit. Their middle-order still lacks stability and is overly dependent on the temperamental talent of Kieron Pollard.
With a lot more variety and depth, bowling is Mumbai’s stronger suit. While the experienced Lasith Malinga and Mitchell McClenaghan haven’t played a big part in their campaign so far, they have a steady pace spearhead in Jasprit Bumrah. Bowlers like Jason Behrendorff and Alzarri Joseph have had their moments this season, while Krunal Pandya and Rahul Chahar have handled the spin department deftly.
But they haven’t got much purchase from the batsman-friendly Wankhede pitch. Apart from the match against Chennai Super Kings – which Mumbai won by 37 runs — the rest have been high-scoring affairs, with Delhi Capitals scoring the most runs in an innings (213/6) so far.
With De Villiers looking lethal again and Bangalore having little to lose — they remain in contention for the knockouts only mathematically — Mumbai have a task on their hands.