10 May,2026 09:21 AM IST | Raipur | Agencies
RCB will bank on Virat Kohli for a solid start. Pic/IPL; (right) MI opener Rohit Sharma trains in Raipur. Pic/MI Instagram
Mumbai Indians face defending champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru with renewed confidence in their IPL match at Shaheed Veer Narayan Singh International Stadium here on Sunday.
MI secured their third win of the season by defeating Lucknow Super Giants by six wickets in a high-scoring encounter at Wankhede on Monday. It will be a do-or-die game for the five-time champions, who are currently placed ninth with six points from 10 matches.
MI's batting line-up showed glimpses of a glorious past, successfully chasing down 228 against LSG.
Rohit Sharma marked his return from an injury layoff with a blistering 84 off 44 balls, and the victory gave the team temporary relief after a slew of defeats.
Rohit and his opening partner Ryan Rickelton will have to negate the potent RCB new-ball pair of Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Josh Hazlewood.
Skipper Hardik Pandya missed the LSG clash due to back spasms. He has travelled to Raipur, but his fitness will be monitored closely before a final call is taken on his availability.
On the other hand, RCB will want their batting group to rediscover its form to snap a two-match losing streak and put their campaign back on track.
RCB were off to a flying start this season, winning four of their first five matches and a Playoffs entry appeared a mere formality. But now the situation has changed. The title holders have lost three of their last five matches to slip into a minor mid-season crisis.
RCB, currently fourth on the table with 12 points from 10 matches, are still in a prime position to enter the knockout stage. But the Bengaluru outfit will certainly be aware that they have lost a bit of steam towards the business end of the tournament.
RCB will need their batting group to regain its range. They would welcome some runs from Jacob Bethell, who came in for an injured Phil Salt. But his four outings so far have produced 14, 20, 5 and 4, robbing power from RCB's opening combination, and it has left Virat Kohli to do all the heavy lifting. Equally discomforting is the diminished return from wicketkeeper-batter Jitesh Sharma, as his highest score this season is 23.
867
No. of runs scored by Rohit Sharma against RCB in IPL; the second-most against the Bengaluru side after MS Dhoni (906)
Zero
No. of IPL matches MI have played in Raipur, while RCB played one game against Delhi here in 2016
Two
No. of matches MI have won against RCB in the last eight encounters between the two sides since 2021
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