IPL 2018, Match 21, RR vs MI Match Prediction: Who will win the match today, Rajasthan Royals or Mumbai Indians?

The Mumbai Indians finally came to the party and opened their account in Indian Premier League (IPL) 2018 with a thumping win over the Royal Challengers Bangalore at a jam-packed Wankhede Stadium a couple of days ago. It was a dominating performance by the reigning champions as they totally outplayed RCB in all departments of the game and sent a strong message to the rest of the competition.

The Rajasthan Royals, on the contrary, haven’t had a great run recently as they suffered two comprehensive losses at the hands of the Kolkata Knight Riders and the Chennai Super Kings. Since the margins of those losses have been significant, their net run rate has taken a beating and they have slipped down to no. 5 in the team standings. They will be seriously hoping to turn the tables as they take the field in front of their home crowd tomorrow.

Pitch and Conditions

Normally the pitch at the Sawai Mansingh stadium is true and very good for stroke-play, but the last one they produced there was quite slow and a lot of deliveries gripped on the deck. The bowlers who rolled their fingers over the ball and executed their cutter got rewards, while the spinners fared up pretty decently as well.

If the pitch is slow again tomorrow, it will be a 150-160 game rather than a 180-game which is normally the case at this venue. However as we saw in that game between Rajasthan and Kolkata, as the dew arrived in the second innings, it suddenly appeared like a different deck with the ball starting to skid on which happens so often in the night games in India. So both the captains will be interested in bowling first.

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Playing Combination

Rajasthan Royals

Probable Changes – Jofra Archer in, Ben Laughlin out

It’s baffling that the Royals think-tank continues keeping Jofra Archer out of the XI in the favour of Ben Laughlin who although is not a bad T20 bowler, but hasn’t done anything extraordinary so far to keep somebody like Archer on the bench. The only thing which can explain his continuous snub is fitness as he is coming off from an injury and might still not be 100%. He is however bowling full tilt in training and it’s really hard to foresee him not replacing Laughlin in the XI tomorrow.

Rajasthan picked Heinrich Klaasen last game and rightfully so, but they opened the batting with him which was probably not the right move especially when they had somebody like Rahul Tripathi at their disposal who has successfully opened in the IPL in the past and is more comfortable at the top of the order. Klaasen is a middle order bat and Rajasthan is better off pushing him down at 4 where he can give the innings a fair bit of impetus in the middle overs with his aggressive play against spin.

Predicted XI: Ajinkya Rahane (C), Rahul Tripathi, Sanju Samson, Heinrich Klaasen, Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler (WK), Stuart Binny, Krishnappa Gowtham, Jofra Archer, Shreyas Gopal, Jaydev Unadkat

Mumbai Indians

Probable Changes – No Change

Mumbai had two options for the third seamer’s slot ahead of the last game in Mitchell McClenaghan and Adam Milne and they went with the former who however was not a very popular choice because of his recent form. But the left arm seamer justified his selection with two massive wickets in his first spell as he removed Quinton de Kock and AB de Villiers and sucked the sting out of RCB’s chase. He is a guaranteed pick for this game.

Ishan Kishan, while playing against RCB, took a nasty blow on his face trying to collect a Hardik Pandya throw from the deep. It looked scary initially as he was in unbearable pain and there was a lot of swelling around his cheek-bone, but as the news came through, he fortunately doesn’t have any fracture and he is fit and fine to take the field tomorrow.

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

Team Comparison

Mumbai Indians is a comparatively better team on paper, both with bat and ball. They might have been on the receiving of some close finishes in the beginning of the tournament, but they possess immense quality in their squad. While they are a power packed batting side, they are also one of the strongest bowling units in the tourney and are good enough to get better of the opposition in any conditions. Especially with McCelenaghan coming good now and solving the third seamer conundrum, it has only strengthened them.

Rajasthan because of the indifferent form of Ben Stokes and Jos Buttler has not been able to come across as a strong batting side. They put on a run-fest once at Chinnaswamy courtesy Sanju Samson, but with their big superstars not firing in the middle order and with them not getting good starts consistently up top, they are in a bit of a mess which they need to sort quickly.

Probable Top Performers

Heinrich Klaasen (Rajasthan Royals), Mitchell McClenaghan (Mumbai Indians)

Head to Head

Matches – 16, Mumbai Indians – 10, Rajasthan Royals – 6

The timing of the match: 08:00 pm IST

Broadcast Details

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

Live streaming – Jio TV, Hotstar

The prediction is for the Mumbai Indians to beat the Rajasthan Royals in this match.

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