Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) are all set to take on the Mumbai Indians (MI) in match no. 16 of the Pepsi Indian Premier League (IPL) 2015 at M Chinnaswamy stadium, Bengaluru on Sunday.
MI would be desperately looking to break the losing streak as they have lost all the four matches they played in this eighth edition of this IPL. On the other hand, RCB will be in action after a five day break after they lost to the Sunrisers Hyderabad.
Here are some of the key battles that one can expect from this match:
Chris Gayle vs Lasith Malinga: MI bowlers are definitely aware of what Gayle can do to a bowling attack. Gayle knows this format better than anyone else and the records speak well off him. Malinga, surprisingly, has never dismissed Gayle in the IPL. This Sri Lankan fast bowler has been pretty ordinary in this edition of the IPL. In order to tame the Gayle storm, Malinga needs to be on song.
Virat kohli vs Vinay Kumar: Kohli is arguably one of the best batsmen in the world and he can be equally dangerous when he comes out to open the innings with Gayle. Vinay Kumar will look to fox him with his variations in pace and bounce. They have shared the nets quite often in the past and he must be aware of Kohli's weakness and would look to work and implement them in this match upfront.
Rohit Sharma vs Yuzvendra Chahal: Rohit Sharma arguably is the best batsman in the MI squad. Initially, he was opening the batting but now he has pushed himself down the middle order. He is a terrific player of spin bowling and he uses his feet quite well in order to play his shots. Chahal has been the best bowler for RCB and the most economical too. He would look to vary his line and length against this class batsman.
Kieron Pollard vs Darren Sammy: Pollard has been brilliant with bat in their last two matches and has taken on the bowling attacks right from the word go. Meanwhile, Sammy having played with Pollard for West Indies, will be aware of his weakness. He will try and deceive Pollard with his slower ones and he should bowl stump to stump so that Pollard does not get any room whatsoever to free his arms.
Ab de Villiers vs Harbhajan Singh: None can improvise on the cricket pitch better than Ab de Villiers and he is one of the better players of spin as well. Harbhajan has bowled well in this IPL but everytime he has landed up on the losing side. He has picked up some really important wickets at crucial stages but it will be interesting to see whether he can trouble the likes of de Villiers or not.
RCB will bank on the home advantage and would want to get back to winning ways. MI would be raring to go for that win and open their accounts on the points table.
