IPL 2021 | MI vs RR: Unpredictable Royals, inconsistent Mumbai seeking turnaround at new venue

When Mumbai Indians and Rajasthan Royals will come head to head for the first time in the 14th edition of the Indian Premier League, both their captains - Rohit Sharma and Sanju Samson would be aware of the fact that they will be running out of time to resurrect their sides, very soon in the tournament.

Both Mumbai and Rajasthan have tasted wins only on two occasions and have lost three matches each, to find themselves tottering in the ongoing edition.

The Mumbai Indians have suffered due to inconsistency of their in-form batsmen and an ailing lower order which has been their strength in the past few seasons. On the other hand, the Royals have struggled to find ways of winning the games in absence of two of its marquee players Ben Stokes and Jofra Archer.

Both the sides have had some great eye-catching performances as well but those had been scattered around some average display of cricket to leave themselves without any cover in the second half of their campaign.

‘Pandya sized’ problem for Mumbai Indians

Like many promising all-rounders who disappeared from the scene in Indian cricket after an injury, Hardik Pandya’s journey is dangerously walking towards the same territory. He did not bowl a single ball in the last edition and the story is similar so far in the ongoing edition. 

His batting prowess made life easier for the Mumbai Indians as they were finding herculean efforts from his bat last season. However, the story has changed this season as Hardik has looked a pale shadow of himself in the five matches so far.

In the five matches, he has amassed a mere 36 runs with a top score of 15. He bats lower down the prolific batting order that is comprised of Rohit Sharma, Quinton de Kock, and Suryakumar Yadav and hence it is understandable that he does not get a lot of opportunities to face more balls and build a substantive innings.

Inconsistency of the top order and pitches in Chennai solved that riddle for him as he got the opportunity to bat with overs left in the game. However, his effect has dipped sharply and so are the fortunes of the Mumbai Indians in the IPL so far.

It’s highly unlikely he will be axed anytime soon in this tournament, but Hardik needs to turn a corner with performances with the bat. Or else, with lack of fitness with respect to bowling and lack of runs from the bat will make him a liability for the Mumbai Indians.

Aggressor or anchor—which Samson will turn up?

Sanju Samson lit up the IPL 2021 with a swashbuckling century against the Punjab Kings but drew criticism and debate after he denied Chris Morris a single on the penultimate delivery and instead backed himself to hit a six and win the Royals that game.

As the dust settled on the game, Samson could not replicate his form and perished in the process of bringing up his best performances. He failed for three games on the trot in attacking fashion and in the wake of criticism for being too aggressive in his approach, he defended putting his wicket on the line more often than not.

However, in the last game against the Kolkata Knight Riders, Sanju Samson brought his anchoring game to the fore and took the Royals over the line. Chasing a low total helped his cause but the change in approach and adaptation he brought to his game would have been a big welcome sign for the Royals.

Jos Buttler’s form—another worry for Royals

The Royals were depleted even before the start of the IPL this year as Jofra Archer was ruled out of the first half of the tournament. Their crisis deepened when Ben Stokes broke his arm and got out of the tournament followed by Archer’s unavailability for the whole tournament.

The English trio of Stokes, Archer and Jos Buttler has been the core strength of the Royals over the past few seasons. 

With both Stokes and Archer missing from action, the onus was on Buttler to lead the way for the Royals at the top of the order where he has tasted success in the IPL. But, he has struggled with the loss of form and fluency as the batting concerns have gone deeper and deeper for the Royals.

The Royals need to win five more games out of their remaining nine matches and it’s imperative that Buttler rediscover his mojo or else it would be curtains for the men in pink for the chance to advance into the playoff stage in yet another season.

Mumbai Indians vs Rajasthan Royals: Match Details

Match Number-24

Date and Time: April 29, 2021, 07:30 pm IST, 02:00 pm GMT

Venue: Arun Jaitley Stadium, New Delhi

Broadcast and Live Stream: Star Sports and Hotstar

Pitch and weather

It will be the second match of the season to be played at the Arun Jaitely Stadium in New Delhi and the pitch is likely to move between a flat track and of spin-friendly nature.

The pitches in Delhi have been slower and lower over the past few seasons when IPL matches have taken place and the script is unlikely to be any different on a scorching day on April 29 when Rohit Sharma and Sanju Samson will walk for the toss.

It will be a day game starting at 3.30 PM and the weather conditions will be hotter with maximum temperatures hovering around 43 degrees which in all likelihood will alter the preference of the captain after winning the toss.

Team News

Mumbai Indians

The Mumbai Indians reached New Delhi on April 24 from Chennai where they could not as many games as the batting coach Robin Singh had expected out of them on surfaces that were not to their liking.

However, he had highlighted some lessons that the batsmen might have learnt and they will have to put all of that to good use with pitches in New Delhi are to be on similar lines to that in Chennai.

The men in blue have the luxury of choosing from an all-strength squad for the game against the Royals, but it’s unlikely that they will make any change in their playing XI from their last game against the Punjab Kings that ended in a horrible loss.

Strongest XI

Rohit Sharma (c), Quinton de Kock (wk), Suryakumar Yadav, Ishan Kishan, Hardik Pandya, Krunal Pandya, Kieron Pollard, Jayant Yadav, Rahul Chahar, Jasprit Bumrah, Trent Boult

Rajasthan Royals

The Royals have come from Mumbai where pitches were true in nature in the early part of the tournament and batsmen enjoyed pace on the surface and short boundaries at the Wankhede Stadium. 

The boundary dimensions will be the same in Arun Jaitely Stadium as well but the surface will demand a different brand of cricket from the Royals batsmen.

The Royals have already made a choice of giving up on Manan Vohra, whose IPL career failed to take off except for few sparkling innings scattered around frustrating failures and investing in young talent in Yashasvi Jaiswal. The move is likely to continue as the left-hander showed promise in the last game against the Knight Riders taking on the likes of Pat Cummins with indomitable confidence.

The Royals showed the richness of a rare breed of cricketers—left-arm pacers by playing the trio of Jaydev Unadkat, Chetan Sakaria and Mustafizur Rahman in the last game. 

The team management will be tempted to unleash the pace of Kartik Tyagi on the Mumbai batting order but the repertoire of cutters and slower balls Unadkat has up his sleeves will make the choice difficult for them.

Strongest XI

Jos Buttler, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Sanju Samson (c & wk), David Miller, Shivam Dube, Riyan Parag, Rahul Tewatia, Chris Morris, Jaydev Unadkat, Chetan Sakariya, Mustafizur Rahman

Mumbai Indians vs Rajasthan Royals: Dream XI/fantasy XI

Sanju Samson, Ishan Kishan, Rohit Sharma, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Kieron Pollard, Trent Boult, Jasprit Bumrah, Mustafizur Rahman, Rahul Chahar

Captain: Suryakumar Yadav

Vice-captain: Chris Morris