The Mumbai Indians vs Royal Challengers Bengaluru is a clash of titans in many sense. While there is no comparison in their trophy cabinet, with MI winning IPL five times while RCB yet to open the account, the teams are filled with stars. While MI have the likes of Rohit Sharma, Hardik Pandya, Jasprit Bumrah among others, RCB have Virat Kohli, Faf du Plessis, Glenn Maxwell. So a contest between the two is always awaited. Thursday was such a day.
Both the teams have not been in their best shape in the IPL 2024 so far, but at home MIM looked like having that extra bite. They scalped RCB wickets at regular intervals as a big totals looked hard to get. After the initial shock of Virat Kohli falling cheaply, RCB almost got another shocker as Akash Madhwal's delivery hits Faf du Plessis hard. The RCB skipper went down on his knees in pain and it was at this very moment, MI wicketkeeper Ishan Kishan came and teased him. The photos of it went viral.
Talking about the match, Mumbai Indians won the toss and elected to bowl first against Royal Challengers Bengaluru. Mumbai Indians made one change in the squad that won the match against Delhi Capitals with Shreyas Gopal coming in for Piyush Chawla.
MI skipper Hardik Pandya said: "Similar track but in the evening (it) might be better to bat on. There was dew the last couple of days."
The MI captain said the mood is the same in the camp after their victory in the last match after three successive defeats. "Mood before and after the win has been the same. We play every game with a fresh start. Want to put early pressure with the new ball," he said. "I heard it was the highest score without anyone scoring fifty, gives confidence to us that even one guy batting long we can score 234. At the same time, bowlers held their nerve in the powerplay well. It has been a chasing ground and looking at the tradition. Shreyas comes in for Piyush Chawla."