Mumbai look to extend winning run vs Rajasthan; RCB face KXIP in must-win tie

A confident Mumbai Indians will look to consolidate their position in the Indian Premier League (IPL) points table when they host a lacklustre Rajasthan Royals at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Saturday.

Mumbai has won their last three games and are placed third on the table with four wins from six games while their opponents have managed to win just one game so far and lie at the seventh place.

In the absence of regular skipper Rohit Sharma, Kieron Pollard led Mumbai from the front and came up with two match winning performances. He was ably supported by Alzarri Joseph, who has been the find of the tournament.

A leg injury had forced Rohit to miss their game against Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) and it remains to be seen whether the skipper has fully recovered or not. In the game against Punjab where Mumbai were chasing a mammoth 198 for victory, Pollard smashed a 31-ball 83 to ensure another victory for the three-time champions.

Joseph, who had a dream debut after returning with the best IPL figures of 6/12 against Sunrisers Hyderabad, played a crucial cameo down the order against Punjab to help Mumbai cross the line in time.

On Saturday, all eyes will once again be on Pollard and Joseph, who are currently in top form.

If Rohit comes back in the playing eleven, it will further strengthen Mumbai’s batting line-up, which features some dependable names like Hardik Pandya, Krunal Pandya, Quinton de Kock and Ishan Kishan.

Coming to Rajasthan, it seems nothing is going their way as they lost a nail-biter against defending champions Chennai Super Kings on Thursday, thanks to Mitchell Santner’s last ball six which kept the yellow brigade at the top of the table.

Rajasthan would once again bank on Jofra Archer, who conceded just 19 runs from his four overs, giving his team a chance to defend a modest 152 against the star studded Chennai team.

Shreyas Gopal has also been amongst the wickets after picking up eight from six games. The leg-spinner however, failed to perform against the yellow brigade and would have to step up in another high-profile class.

With their backs firmly to the wall, out-of-sorts Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) will take on Kings XI Punjab in a must-win Indian Premier League (IPL) clash at the IS Bindra Stadium here on Saturday.

RCB have lost six matches on the trot, finding themselves rooted to the bottom of the eight-team table.

RCB slumped to their sixth straight defeat after going down against Delhi Capitals last Sunday.

Kohli, who was recently named the Leading Cricketer of the Year for the third successive time by Wisden Almanack, looked distraught and on Saturday will know that they can only reverse their fortunes by winning all their remaining eight matches from Saturday onwards.

RCB have been inconsistent with both their bowling and batting faltering on many occasions.

Indo-AsianNews Service