IPL 2016: Where to Watch, Royal Challengers Bangalore vs Mumbai Indians
The clash of the heavyweights as the Royal Challengers Bangalore play host to the Mumbai Indians in the 41st game of the IPL. Both teams boast huge fan bases with their star studded line ups. Kohli, Rohit, Gayle, Pollard, de Villiers and you name them; superstars everywhere. In their last clash at the Wankhede Stadium, MI defeated RCB by 6 wickets with 2 overs to spare. Batting first, RCB set the target of 171 for victory which MI chased down comfortably, thanks to the innings of 62 from their captain Rohit Sharma.
The Match will be live from 20:00 IST, 2:30 GMT. Watch live streaming of RCB vs MI on www.starsports.com and www.hotstar.com. Mobile users can watch live streaming of RCB v/s MI on the Hotstar App. You can also watch the live telecast of RCB vs MI on Sony ESPN, Sony ESPN HD, Sony Six, Sony Six HD, Sony Max. The match will be played at the M.Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore.
Against KXIP in the last game, RCB just managed to edge past the finishing line. The match was decided oo the last ball, from which 4 runs were required; the batsman could manage only a two. RCB won the match by the narrowest margin of 1 run.
AB de Villiers played a fabulous knock of 64 off 35 and got the team to 175 after some uncharacteristic early hiccups. In the bowling department, they almost threw it away again, but thanks to a superb spell of 4-0-22-2 by Shane Watson, which won him the Man of the Match award, they won a tight one.
Batting-wise, they hardly ever had too many issues. Virat Kohli is in an incredible form scoring runs in virtually every single match. He is the leading run scorer by a fair margin. If he has an off-day, AB does it for them. You don’t need to be rocket scientists to figure that it is their bowling which has been the worrying aspect.
Chris Jordan had flown in with the reputation of being a specialist T20 bowler, but he has gone for close to 12 runs an over in 2 matches. Stuart Binny has become more of a liability as he has done literally nothing with bat or ball. Shane Watson is the only bowler for them in the top 10 wicket takers. It’s not every time that the batsmen can score 200 runs; the bowlers have to win them the games too.
MI after a poor start, begun to find the right combinations and won a few games to stay in the tournament. But in the last game, the batting display was dreadful as they literally surrendered to the SRH bowling and got bowled out for 92 in the 17th over. They have enjoyed chasing in the tournament (as have other teams), but this was one occasion they failed miserably.
It had much to do with the departure of Rohit Sharma early in the innings. Until that game, he had scored 5 half centuries, all while chasing. Against RCB, if they bat second, they have to be prepared to chase a big total as the Bangalore pitch has favored the batsmen.
Harbhajan Singh was brilliant in the last game with figures of 29/2. He being the most experienced player in the squad, his contribution will be vital in the upcoming games. Mithcell McClenaghan is tied at the top for the most number of wickets in the league with Watson and Russell. It will be a race for the purple cap between him and Watson.
With the league heading into the business end, every match is worth its weight in gold for both the teams. MI have a history of qualifying for the playoffs with a late push while RCB have the reputation of being the chokers. It remains to be seen whether this trend changes this time around or not.
The match will be broadcasted live on SuperSport in Africa, Geo Super in Pakistan, Maasranga in Bangladesh, Set Max and Sony Six in Bhutan, ESPN in the US, and Sky Sports in the UK. The live streaming of the match can also be watched on CricketGateway.com in Australia.