IPL 2021, MI vs RCB Preview: Mumbai Indians face Royal Challengers Bangalore

 Mumbai I PL 2021, MI vs RCB Preview: Mumbai Indians face Royal Challengers Bangalore in opener amid rise in Covid cases in Maharashtra,,

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Cricket IPLIPL 2021 1st Match

 Mumbai Indians Royal Challengers Bangalore

Starts at 7:30 PM local time

Starts 9 Apr 2021, 07:30 PM IST

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Right. . Virat Kohli vs Rohit Sharma. The greatest Indian red-ball captain against arguably the best white-ball skipper India have never had. A team that incessantly prolongs its IPL hoodoo against a side that can’t do anything but win IPL titles. Royal Challengers Bangalore vs Mumbai Indians. Time to raise the temperatures then, eh?

As a singular prospect, there aren’t many that are as enticing, not just in the IPL but around the world. Both teams, despite their varied degree of success in the cash-rich tournament, are still among the most popular outfits on the planet, meaning that billions of eyeballs would be trained on them come the 9th of April. To that end, perhaps the match-ups don’t disappoint too. While Jasprit Bumrah and Trent Boult would mark out their run-ups on one side, the likes of AB de Villers, Glenn Maxwell and Virat Kohli would prepare to take guard on the opposite fence. Similarly, Mohammed Siraj, Navdeep Saini, Washington Sundar and Yuzvendra Chahal’s pursuit of excellence will meet a fitting foe in Hardik Pandya, Kieron Pollard, Rohit Sharma and Suryakumar Yadav.

In blunter terms, whenMI and RCB collide at the MA Chidambaram Stadium on 9th April, there will be a galaxy of stars on show. As far as IPL resemblances are concerned though, that is perhaps where the congruence ends, for both sides, in their 13-year history, couldn’t have traversed drastically different paths.

Over the past few seasons, RCB have flattered to deceive, simply put. Despite boasting AB de Villiers and Virat Kohli – two modern day greats, they have somehow almost always stumbled when it has mattered. In fact, even in 2020, when they began like a runaway freight train, they were pegged back as push came to shove.

Rather surprisingly though, it was the batting that let RCB down in 2020 – something they seem to have corrected with the additions of Daniel Christian, Finn Allen, Glenn Maxwell and Kyle Jamieson. However, their spending spree to acquire Jamieson and Maxwell has perhaps left them a touch short on the bowling department – one that was weakened by the departure of Chris Morris. Thus, they might find themselves in a bit of soup, especially as the tournament progresses. On that scale at least, they might quietly be happy that their first game is against the defending champions, for the latter possesses as belligerent a batting unit as any and would pose all prospective challenges RCB might have to tackle in the IPL.

To place things into context, the batting line-up is stacked with power hitters. While Quinton de Kock and Rohit Sharma do the heavy lifting at the top, Suryakumar Yadav, courtesy his dexterity, ensures that the tempo is maintained through the middle phases. Then, Ishan Kishan rocks up and pummels bowlers into submission, even before Messrs. Hardik Pandya and Kieron Pollard waltz out to the centre. And, that, in a nutshell, indicates the strength in depth the Mumbai Indians have in the batting department.

On the bowling front, they are significantly better, courtesy the presence of Jasprit Bumrah and Trent Boult. To add to it, they might be able to unleash the searing pace of Adam Milne, while Nathan Coulter-Nile offers them a fail-safe option.The only worry though, might be their spin bowling reserves, which at Chennai, could come under a bit of pressure. However, if that is enough to completely derail their challenge, especially against RCB remains to be seen.

Thus, as things stand, all the cards seem to be stacked against Virat Kohli’s men, who lest one forgets, come into this IPL on the back of a wretched winless run towards the end of the 2020 edition. Back then, they seemed anything but a side that had qualified for the play-offs and if they continue on a similar path, they would get trampled by Mumbai, make no mistake about it.  

Yet, if they are able to showcase the form that defined the early weeks of IPL 2020, they might just be able to rattle a few Mumbai cages. If that happens, is anybody’s guess but in RCB, the defending champions certainly have one of the tougher propositions to tackle, irrespective of history. Perhaps, RCB might even want to disregard everything that has transpired prior, considering they intend to change narratives this IPL season. On the other hand, Mumbai would look to draw every ounce of inspiration from their past successes.

In fact, that is the beauty of the IPL, for two sides – each stacked with a slew of stars, still find a way to approach a particular game of cricket differently. That it also represents two of India’s greatest ever limited-overs batsmen and vastly different captaincy ideologies, only adds another layer of fascination to it all. And, for the start of an IPL season, one wouldn’t have had it any other way, would one?

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