Mumbai is currently in the bottom half of the league table among the 10 teams. Out of four attempts, they have won only one match. Their campaign began with three consecutive losses to the Gujarat Titans, Sunrisers Hyderabad, and Rajasthan Royals before they secured their first win of the season against the Delhi Capitals. Tilak Varma and Rohit Sharma are Mumbai’s top run-scorers this season. Varma has scored 127 runs, while Sharma has scored 118, with each hitting four fours. Sharma’s strike rate exceeds 170. He is no longer the captain of Mumbai, which could enhance his primary role in batting. Tim David and Hardik Pandya have also made significant contributions. Sailors Gerald Kutzii and Jasprit Bumrah could again be key players for Mumbai. This season, they have shared 12 wickets and represent the team’s ability to blend international players with local talent. It will be interesting to see if Mumbai’s new captain Pandya can lead the team again in this match.
Bangalore’s attempt to win their first IPL title didn’t start off very well. All of their last three matches ended in defeat, and the fourth will undoubtedly hurt their aspirations to even make it to the playoffs of the tournament. For a team with such great individual talent, things are not going very well collectively. Talisman Virat Kohli is the top scorer in the overall IPL 2024 standings. This season, he has already scored a century and two fifties, averaging over 100 runs. But he lacked support. While Kohli has scored 316 runs, the next highest scorer for RCB this season is Faf du Plessis, with just 109 runs. Yash Dayal and Mohammed Siraj have shared nine wickets in this year’s tournament, but they haven’t been as effective as Bumrah and Kutzii combined. Dayal, however, remains one of the best left-arm pacers in the IPL and can expect another big performance here.
