IPL 2019: Match 7, RCB vs MI Today's Predicted Playing 11, Preview & Key Players

After losing their respective fixtures against the Chennai Super Kings and Delhi Capitals, both Royal Challengers Bangalore and Mumbai Indians will look to register their maiden win in the tournament when they face each other in the seventh fixture of IPL 2019 at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium Bangalore on Thursday, March 28.

Head to Head Overall Stats: In 25 head to head IPL games, MI have won 16 of them.

Head to Head at M. Chinnaswamy Stadium: The RCB have not gathered much success against MI on their home ground. They have won just two out of nine head to head fixtures against the Mumbai Indians here.

Pitch Report: Chinnaswamy Stadium's short boundaries, flat deck and high altitude makes it a batting paradise in the T20 format.

Mumbai Indians

Mumbai Indians (Source - iplt20.com)

Mumbai lost their campaign opener against Delhi Capitals by 37 runs. But the three-time IPL champions will take some confidence from their impressive record at the Bengaluru stadium.

Batting

Key Players - Quinton De Kock, Rohit Sharma & Yuvraj Singh

Quinton de Kock (27 runs from 16 balls) and skipper Rohit Sharma (14 runs from 13 balls) got Mumbai Indians off to a breezy start but failed to convert the stand into a big one. The opening duo will look to stitch together a good opening partnership against RCB.

Yuvraj Singh top-scored for the Mumbai in the first game. The southpaw smashed 53 runs from 35 balls. If he starts putting up consistent performances with the bat, it will be a major plus for the franchise.

Meanwhile, the franchise also boasts of three world-class all-rounders in their ranks in Kieron Pollard, Krunal Pandya and Hardik Pandya. All of them have the ability to bat aggressively and accelerate the scoreboard.

Bowling

Key Players - Mitchell McClenaghan, Lasith Malinga and Ben Cutting.

Mitchell McClenaghan led the bowling charts against DC with 3-40 from his four overs. The Kiwi pacer will be expected to play a similar role against the RCB.

Jasprit Bumrah suffered a shoulder injury in the previous game. However, the speedster was reported bowling during the practice sessions on the eve of the match.

Mayank Markande, the leg spinner will be expected to keep a check on the RCB batsmen during the middle overs.

Expected Playing XI

Rohit Sharma (C), Quinton De Kock (W), Suryakumar Yadav, Yuvraj Singh, Kieron Pollard, Hardik Pandya, Krunal Pandya, Ben Cutting, Mitchell McClenaghan, Mayank Markande and Rasikh Salam.

Royal Challengers Bangalore

Royal Challengers Bangalore (Source - iplt20.com

RCB had a dreadful start to their 2019 campaign as they were thumped by Chennai Super Kings in the season opener. Their batsmen were simply clueless against the spin attack of CSK.

RCB's record at Bengaluru against MI is also not convincing. However, the hosts would love to defy all the odds with a win over Mumbai.

Batting

Key Players - Virat Kohli, AB de Villers and Parthiv Patel

Parthiv Patel was the only batsman to show some grit against the spin attack of CSK and cross the double figure mark. The RCB opener played a steady knock of 29 from 35 balls and he will be expected to continue his work against MI.

Meanwhile, the players like Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers and Shimron Hetmyer would like to hit top form soon and help RCB post daunting totals on board.

Bowling

Key Players - Yuzvendra Chahal, Umesh Yadav & Umesh Yadav

With just 70 runs to defend, it was never going to be an easy task for the bowlers. But the performance form the bowling department was a big positive for RCB. They made Chennai work hard for the runs. The pick of the lot was Yuzvendra Chahal who returned with figures of 4-1-6-1. He will be excepted to restrict the scoring rate against the MI.

Umesh Yadav was not among wickets in the last game. Nevertheless, he was their leading wicket-taker in 2018 with 20 wickets. The pacer will be backed by Kohli to pick up early wickets.

Expected Playing XI

Virat Kohli (C), Parthiv Patel (W), AB de Villiers, Shimron Hetmyer, Moeen Ali, Shivam Dube, Colin de Grandhomme, Mohammad Siraj, Navdeep Saini, Umesh Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal.

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