RCB v MI Prediction: Who will win today's IPL 2020 match
Game 10 of IPL 2020 sees Virat Kohli-led Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) take on defending champions Mumbai Indians (MI). The two teams faced contrasting fortunes in their respective tournament openers.
While Mumbai looked good for a win after removing the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) openers early in their 163-run chase, a 115-run partnership between Ambati Rayudu and Faf du Plessis saw CSK take the game home by five wickets.
RCB, on the other hand, turned the game around after Sunrisers Hyderabad threw away the advantage when they needed 43 to win off 30 balls with eight wickets in hand. Three crucial wickets for Yuzvendra Chahal meant the Bangalore franchise won the game by 10 runs.
The contrasting results would carry over to the teams’ second games as well. While MI registered a thumping 49-run win over the Kolkata Knight Riders, the Royal Challengers faced a humiliating 97-run win at the hands of a few familiar faces over at Kings XI Punjab (KXIP).
Rohit Sharma and the Mumbai Indians will want to keep their momentum going and pick up a big win against a possibly demoralised RCB team. Virat Kohli’s men, on the other end of the spectrum, will want to put the nightmare at Dubai International Stadium behind them.
IPL 2020: RCB v MI match prediction
The Mumbai Indians waltzed into IPL 2020 as favourites to win the trophy, and with good reason. They are the defending champions, and have come into the tournament with arguably, the most balanced side of the lot.
In Rohit Sharma, the team from Mumbai have the most successful captain in IPL history. Bring his batting form into the picture, and MI could not ask for a better opener.
MI also have, possibly, the most potent fast bowling line-up among the eight IPL teams.
Trent Boult and Jasprit Bumrah are currently ranked 1 and 2 in the world among ODI bowlers. Add James Pattinson to the mix, and MI have a bagful of wickets just waiting to be picked up.
With the likes of Kieron Pollard and the Pandya brothers likely to be occupying the crease at the fag end of the innings, the team also boasts some of the best finishers in the league.
Contrastingly, the Royal Challengers Bangalore seem not to have addressed quite a few issues from their past. The Bangalore franchise are still struggling in the death overs, as evidenced in the game against KXIP.
The emergence of young Devdutt Padikkal has certainly been a tremendous positive for Kohli’s men, their apparent inability to score quick runs outside of the top four could come back to haunt them in the future.
Although Chahal’s spotless form in the previous two games should bode well for the Royal Challengers, they still have another 16 overs to contend with. While four of those 16 overs could be taken care of with the potential return of their most expensive buy of the IPL 2020 auction, Chris Morris, the remaining 12 could still be problematic given the Indians’ batting prowess.
Going into this game, the RCB fans’ cries of “this time the cup is ours” could very well be set to go in vain, and one could be forgiven for expecting the Mumbai Indians to win this by a big margin. They are tournament favourites for a very good reason.
Prediction: MI to win today.