IPL 2017: Mumbai Indians vs Rising Pune Supergiant, Face Off

Two teams with contrasting fortunes will lock horns in the 28^th match of IPL 2017. Mumbai Indians (MI), who can do no wrong at the moment, take on a rejuvenated Rising Pune Supergiant (RPS) in the comforts of their home conditions.

RPS, despite their rather inconsistent performances this year, have managed to win three games out of six and are placed at the fifth position on the points table. But, the good news for them is that MS Dhoni is back to his menacing best after his stellar knock that saw RPS home in a nail biter against SRH.

But, it’s going to be tough for RPS against MI, who sit pretty at the top after winning six games on the trot. Considering RPS’ bowling performances and the way MI have batted this year, it might just come down to how RPS batsmen handle the high-spirited MI bowling attack. The Steve Smith-led side will have to bat exceptionally well if they want to put up a contest against the home side.

However, the fact that RPS were the only side to defeat MI this year should give a lot of confidence. And they shall look to repeat the heroics once again as they need some wins badly in order to claim a spot in the top four. We might have a cracker of a game on our hands, ladies and gentlemen.

Here, we statistically compare the two expected starting lineups of both the sides in order to find a favourite for this encounter. The comparison made is only based on the IPL career stats of the players.

Mumbai Indians	Rising Pune Supergiants	Who’s better?
Parthiv Patel Runs-3408, Avg-22.27, SR-120.26	Ajinkya Rahane Runs-2796, Avg-34, SR-121.3	RPS
Jos Butler Runs-468, Avg-26, SR-121.3	Rahul Tripathi Runs-301, Avg-23.15, SR-133.18	MI
Nitish Rana Runs-879, Avg-33.80, SR-140.86	Steve Smith Runs-2859, Avg-29.78, SR-126.5	RPS
Rohit Sharma Runs-3928, Avg-32.73, SR-131	MS Dhoni Runs-3393, Avg-39, SR-138	RPS
Kieron Pollard Runs-2148, Avg-29, SR-146.4	Manoj Tiwari Runs-1439, Avg-29.87, SR-116.2	MI
Krunal Pandya Runs-342, Avg-33.54, SR-170.14 Wkts-11, Avg-33.54, Eco – 7.35	Daniel Christian Runs-359, Avg-17.95, SR-118.48 Wkts-20, Avg-35.4, Eco – 7.98	MI
Hardik Pandya Runs-1144, Avg-26, SR-127.30 Wkts-49, Avg-29.32, Eco – 7.67	Ben Stokes Runs-192, Avg-14.76, SR-136.17 Wkts-10, Avg-48.50, Eco – 9.03	MI
Harbhajan Singh Wkts-122, Avg-26.65, Eco – 6.95	Imran Tahir Wkts-38, Avg-21.23, Eco – 8.46	MI
Mitchell McLenaghan Wkts-47, Avg-22.60, Eco – 8.29	Rahul Chahar Wkts-2, Avg-29, Eco – 8.28	MI
Mitchell Johnson Wkts-107, Avg-24.14, Eco – 7.62	Shardul Thakur Wkts-25, Avg-23.04, Eco – 8	MI
Jaspreet Bumrah Wkts-33, Avg-36, Eco – 8.38	Jaydev Unadkat Wkts-35, Avg-30.05, Eco – 8.38	RPS

*For players who have played less than 15 IPL games, their T20 career records have been considered.

Mumbai Indians 7-4 Rising Pune Supergiant

Mumbai have a batter squad going by the numbers and also considering their current form. Therefore, RPS will have to do their best if they want to win this contest.