The last match of the weekend will see a contest between the teams sitting at the complete opposite ends of the points table of the Indian Premier League this year. Mumbai Indians have ticked all the boxes this year and even when the team has lost few games, it did not look out of sorts like the Rajasthan Royals who have not found a sustainable way of winning matches after an initial burst of powerful batting performances in the tiny ground in Sharjah.
Royals are packed with international stars who can turn the games on their heads and they have been able to do that in the past seasons. However, for some unknown reason, the team has struggled for their fragility, especially the batting star who has been failing continuously to provide any bit of momentum to the side.
Royals’ captain Steve Smith has numbers that are now so unbecoming for a player of his stature and the story is similar with two English stars who have played soul-changing roles in the resurgence of English cricket in white-ball format. Ben Stokes has been asked to bat first since the time he has entered into the fray in the IPL 2020 and Steve Smith and Andre McDonald have been fiddling around too much with the top order that has seen Jos Buttler, Steve Smith, Ben Stokes, Robin Uthappa, Yashasvi Jaiswal batting at different times during this season. The constant chopping and changing shows the inability of the team management to spot the potential early in the tournament and rather banking on trial and error method to reach the best possible XI.
On the other hand, the Mumbai Indians have not lost the momentum they got after the loss in the opening game of the season and have invariably beaten almost every team that has come their way. The bowling looks threatening as ever with Trent Boult in form of his life with the white new ball and looks as menacing and deadly as he looks with the red Kookaburra in New Zealand. Jasprit Bumrah has always been a lethal force to reckon with in the IPL and now teamed up with Boult, he is squeezing batsmen and in the end, winning all the battles he is coming up against.
On the batting front, the team has never looked more stable and demeaning for bowlers in the opposition line up with all the batsmen always looking to up the ante and dictate terms rather than sitting for loose balls to cash in. On the night against the CSK, when Rohit Sharma had missed out due the hamstring injury, Ishan Kishan was promoted to the top of the order and he pounced on the opportunity to cash in and belted the Super Kings bowling attack to all parts of the ground. Quinton de Kock is not wasting he good form either and has been going berserks with amazing consistency for the team to dictate the pace of the game.
The kind of cricket these sides have played so far in the season is evident by their standings on the points table where the Mumbai Indians are sitting at the top of the table and the Ryals are languishing at the bottom, just above the Chennai Super Kings who have been nothing but dismal in this season.
Match Number - 45
Date: 25th October 2020, at 7:30 PM IST
Venue: Abu Dhabi
The Rajasthan Royals and the Mumbai Indians will get an opportunity to use the new balls as they will be playing on a new surface. The last match played at the same ground, but on an old pitch yielded almost 200 runs from the bats of Kolkata Knight Riders and looking at the firepower in the batting departments of both teams, it could well be another high scoring game in Abu Dhabi.
The team which will excel in bowling should have an upper hand in the contest and there lies the advantage for the Mumbai Indians who have been a top-notch bowling side this season.
The weather conditions in Abu Dhabi are likely to be pleasant to play cricket with the temperature hovering around sub 30 degree-level and humidity approximately at 50 per cent.
The Royals don’t have any major injury concern and the team had pulled off a big win against the Chennai Super Kings and Steve Smith is likely to field an unchanged XI against the Mumbai Indians. However, the trio of Smith, Butler and Stokes will be under immense pressure to come good for the team as they can’t afford more lapse in the IPL 2020.
Robin Uthappa, Ben Stokes, Sanju Samson (wk), Steven Smith (c), Jos Buttler, Riyan Parag, Rahul Tewatia, Jofra Archer, Shreyas Gopal, Ankit Rajpoot, Kartik Tyagi
Rohit Sharma missed the last game against the Chennai Super Kings due to a hamstring injury and the Mumbai team management is likely to avoid taking any chance with him looking at the playoffs of the IPL 2020. The team is any way at the top of the table and the prize for rushing Rohit’s return is not that high. Saurabh Tiwary was brought in his place and the Jharkhand batsman is likely to be retained in the playing XI for Sunday night's clash against the Rajasthan Royals.
Quinton de Kock (wk), Ishan Kishan, Suryakumar Yadav, Saurabh Tiwary, Hardik Pandya, Kieron Pollard (c), Krunal Pandya, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Rahul Chahar, Trent Boult, Jasprit Bumrah
Ishan Kishan, Quinton de Kock, Jos Buttler, Suryakumar Yadav, Riyan Parag, Robin Uthappa, Kieron Pollard, Ben Stokes, Jasprit Bumrah, trent Boult, Jofra Archer
Captain: Quinton de Kock
Vice-captain: Jos Buttler
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