BENGALURU: Royal Challengers Bangalore hardly had any takeaways after their disappointing outing against Chennai Super Kings. They lost the match after getting bowled out for just 70. That Bangalore are a batting heavy side is a well-known fact.
In their first home match against Mumbai Indians on Thursday, Virat Kohli’s batting unit which consists of players like AB de Villiers, Shimron Hetmyer and Shivam Dube will be hoping for a better show. Here are a few talking points from the match...
Banking on big guns
Bangalore have been dependent on two superstars — Kohli and De Villiers — who scored 530 and 480 runs respectively last season for sometime now. Kohli is known for his consistency over the years and the South African is equally dangerous with his six-hitting ability — his strike rate in the IPL is 150.77.
Mumbai will be keen to get him out as early as possible. “He (De Villiers) is a big wicket so if we manage to get him pretty early, we stand a good chance of doing well,” said Mumbai’s wicketkeeper-batsman Quinton de Kock on the eve of the match.
“So we have spoken about it — how we are going to try and get him out. Otherwise, we just hope he makes a mistake.”
Dube, Hetmyer hold key
In order to address their middle-order woes, Bangalore bought big-hitters such as Dube and Hetmyer for Rs 5 crore and Rs 4.2 crore respectively this time. Both the players did not get going in the opener — Dube hit two runs and Hetmyer got out for a duck. With the team spending huge money on them, the duo will be expected to perform better.
Will Bumrah play?
There are still question marks over Mumbai’s Jasprit Bumrah and Lasith Malinga featuring in the game. Bumrah, who suffered a shoulder injury in their last game against Delhi Capitals on Sunday, was seen bowling at the nets on Wednesday. Malinga will be landing in the city only on Wednesday night.
“Yesterday (Tuesday), Bumrah was on the field and did his warm-up. He was again there on the field today. He has recovered really well and looks fit. We’ll assess (whether he will play) after today’s session. Malinga is reaching Bengaluru tonight,” said Leeladhar Singh, Mumbai’s media manager.
Batting-friendly pitch
The Chinnaswamy wicket is expected to favour batsmen unlike the one at Chepauk which was a rank turner.
The last T20I played between India and Australia here in February saw 384 runs being hit. The wicket is expected to be the same. “I’m hoping the wicket will be good. It’s up to us batters to play a good game. We need to play better cricket than the last game,” said De Villiers.