IPL 2017: MI vs RCB, Face Off

Mumbai are on a high as they face a faltering RCB side today at home

Virat Kohli and Royal Challengers Bangalore must be feeling like they are having a bad dream. The team with the most deadly batting lineup in the IPL has done miserably so far.

This is one of their worst campaigns in IPL history and barring some mathematical probabilities, RCB are out of the competition. Today they travel to Mumbai as they take on a side which is brimming with confidence. 

Mumbai Indians won an exciting game in the super over against Gujarat which kept them second in the league table. A win today will propel them to the top spot as barring Pune, no other team has been able to stop Mumbai's juggernaut.

Though they have had to endure close finishes in their last three games, Mumbai have a healthy record against RCB and lead 14-8 in all meetings. At the Wankhede, the score is tied at 3-3, which may give the Royal Challengers a glimmer of hope going into this game.

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 with the internationals not being counted for this head to head comparison. (*Players who have played less than 15 matches are not included in this face off)

Mumbai Indians	Royal Challengers Bangalore	Who’s better?
Jos Buttler	Chris Gayle	RCB
Runs- 494, Avg- 24.7, SR- 145.29	Runs- 3578, Avg- 42.09, SR- 151.8
Rohit Sharma	Virat Kohli	RCB
Runs- 3991, Avg- 32.71, SR- 130.85	Runs- 4329, Avg- 37.97, SR- 130.04
Parthiv Patel	Kedar Jadhav	MI
Runs- 2166, Avg- 21.66, SR- 116.26	Runs- 839, Avg- 24.68, SR- 136.2
Nitish Rana	AB De Villiers	N/A
Runs- 389, Avg- 35.36, SR- 135.07	Runs- 3410, Avg- 38.75, SR-148.07
Hardik Pandya	Sachin Baby	MI
Runs- 293, Avg- 19.53, SR- 143.63	Runs- 125, Avg- 17.86, SR- 134.41
Kieran Pollard	Stuart Binny	MI
Runs- 2172, Avg- 28.58, SR- 146.07 Wkts- 56, Avg- 31.61, Eco- 8.86	Runs- 766, Avg- 20.16, SR- 126.82 Wkts- 21, Avg- 32.43, Eco- 7.57
Krunal Pandya	Pawan Negi	MI
Runs- 371, Avg- 33.73, SR- 167.87 Wkts- 14, Avg- 27.36, Eco- 7.07	Runs- 279, Avg- 16.41, SR- 127.98 Wkts- 22, Avg- 32.68, Eco- 7.82
Mitchell Mclenaghan	Samuel Badree	N/A
Wkts- 47, Avg- 24.49, Eco- 8.44	Wkts- 11, Avg- 24.09, Eco- 7.16
Lasith Malinga	Sreenath Aravind	MI
Wkts- 149, Avg- 18.48, Eco- 6.86	Wkts- 44, Avg- 22.25, Eco- 8.05
Harbhajan Singh	Yuzvendra Chahal	MI
Wkts- 124, Avg- 26.57, Eco- 6.93	Wkts- 66, Avg- 21.95, Eco- 7.9
Jasprit Bumrah	Tymal Mills	N/A
Wkts- 37, Avg- 33.76, Eco- 8.35	Wkts- 5, Avg- 30.6, Eco- 8.58

                             Mumbai Indians 6-2 Royal Challengers Bangalore

RCB’s problems can very much be summed up from this table as the trio of Kohli, Gayle and AB De Villiers are the only players who come up on top against a balanced Mumbai Indians side. The 4 pm match guarantees runs at the Wankhede as there can’t be a better venue for RCB to give something back to their fans.