Virat Kohli, India’s outgoing T20I captain and Rohit Sharma, the one who will replace him, have endured crushing defeats with their respective teams in the ongoing Indian Premier League.
The fact that the bulk of India’s top-order batters, who are currently under-performing, are from these two sides, sticks out like sore thumb. Going into the World T20, Kohli, Rohit, Suryakumar Yadav and Ishan Kishan are some of the batting mainstays. Also, there is Hardik Pandya, who is not being picked by the Mumbai Indians as he is perhaps not 100 percent fit to carry out his all-round duties, which include four overs of brisk fast-medium bowling.Team FormRoyal Challengers Bangalore: The Virat Kohli-led team suffered an embarrassing nine-wicket defeat against Kolkata Knight Riders after the resumption of the second leg of the IPL. In the next match against Chennai Super Kings they stuttered to a seven-wicket loss. Virat Kohli showed some form en route to his half-century against CSK at Sharjah, but his overall form has been scratchy. RCB are still in the top four with 10 points from nine games.Mumbai Indians: The Mumbai Indians middle-order has failed to click. They suffered a 20-run defeat against Chennai Super Kings, followed by a hammering from Kolkata Knight Riders by seven wickets. Rohit Sharma is not looking in his element. The more worrying factor will be Surya’s lack of form. He is suddenly looking a lot rustier than usual. It was no different for Ishan also, as the trio needed to fire to be in good head space before the T20 World Cup on the same tracks that are expected to get slower. MI after their back-to-back defeats, have slumped to sixth spot with eight points from nine games.Match DetailsMatch 39: Royal Challengers Bangalore vs Mumbai IndiansVenue: Dubai International Cricket Stadium, DubaiTime: 7:30 PM IST, 02:00 PM GMTWhere to watch live: Star Sports Network, HotstarPitch ReportLike any other track in the desert nation, the Dubai pitch will provide an ample amount of help for the spin bowlers. Batting first would be ideal, chasing the total on a double-paced Dubai track is not ideal.Head-To-HeadMatch Played: 30RCB Won: 11MI Won: 19Top PicksDevdutt Padikkal: The young southpaw has made a name for himself in the power-packed RCB batting line-up. He scored a brilliant 70 against KKR and has scored 287 runs in this tournament so far.Jasprit Bumrah: He is arguably the best Indian bowler in all the three formats for India. After having a scintillating Test series against England, Bumrah looked rusty. But you can’t ignore the fact that he is the best in the business. Bumrah has bagged 11 wickets this season so far.Likely Playing XIsRoyal Challengers Bangalore: Virat Kohli (c), Devdutt Padikkal, Rajat Patidar, Glenn Maxwell, AB de Villiers, Tim David, Shahbaz Ahmed, Harshal Patel, Mohammed Siraj, Kyle Jamieson, Yuzvendra ChahalMumbai Indians: Quinton de Kock (wk), Rohit Sharma (c), Suryakumar Yadav, Ishan Kishan, Saurabh Tiwary, Kieron Pollard, Krunal Pandya, Adam Milne, Rahul Chahar, Jasprit Bumrah, Trent Boult
