IPL 2018, RR vs MI: 5 player battles to look forward to 

The defending champions Mumbai Indians started off poorly as they crashed to three defeats in their first three games but in their previous game against the Royal Challengers Bangalore, they stormed back into the tournament with a resounding victory. On the other hand, their opponents in tonight’s game, the Rajasthan Royals are coming off a bruising defeat at the hands of Chennai Super Kings and a game against the defending champions is perhaps not a prospect they would entirely relish.

That being said, RR would be playing at home and getting back to winning ways is of paramount importance for them. Another defeat could start a slide towards bottom placed irrelevance. The game would, of course, be decided by some of the head to head battles between these star-studded teams and here are 5 of them that fans would be most interested in.

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#5 K Gowtham v Evin Lewis

Krishnappa Gowtham went for 35 runs in 3 overs in his previous game against CSK and considering the fact that he opens the bowling for RR, he would need to improve those number tonight. However, he would come up against West Indian batsman Evin Lewis, who is among the most fearsome power-hitters in T20 cricket at the moment.

The left-hander got off to starts in all games but it was only in his last game that he really punished the opposition and that is not a pleasant prospect for a bowling attack that is already under the pump. Gowtham’s steady off-spin at the start of the innings could prove to be an excellent strategy to counter someone like Lewis but he has to get it right, otherwise, the game could slip away fairly quickly. It is a battle that will set the tone for the game. 

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