The Indian Premier League will begin for the 14th time, with the galacticos of Mumbai Indians facing the 14th time hopeful Royal Challengers Bangalore at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai for the first match.
After the shortest gap between two IPL seasons, there will be a few new faces to witness, more in the RCB dugout than Mumbai’s. Bangalore have spent big bucks during the 2021 mini-auction to get Kyle Jamieson, Glenn Maxwell, and Dan Christian on board. Five-time champions Mumbai, on the other hand, have added Piyush Chawla, Adam Milne, and re-purchase Nathan Coulter-Nile to add additional firepower to an already star-studded lineup.
While MI won their second consecutive IPL title in 2020, RCB were knocked out by SRH in the eliminator. It is to be noted that both the teams had equal points (10) after the first half of the season.
Team News
Mumbai Indians may miss the services of wicketkeeper-batsman Quinton de Kock, who joined the squad after the home ODI series against Pakistan. However, he has made a bubble-to-bubble transfer, traveling from South Africa in a charter plane. So the quarantine protocols might not be applicable on him, and he can feature in the XI. Jimmy Neesham might make it into the playing XI.
For RCB, Devdutt Padikkal has resumed training and is likely to feature in the playing XI. With Chennai’s history with spinners, both MI and RCB may take added spin artillery for the opener.
Probable Playing XI
Mumbai Indians: Rohit Sharma, Ishan Kishan (wk), Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Kieron Pollard, Jimmy Neesham, Krunal Pandya, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Rahul Chahar, Jasprit Bumrah, Trent Boult
Royal Challengers Bangalore: Virat Kohli (c), Devdutt Padikkal, Mohammed Azharuddeen (wk), AB de Villiers, Glenn Maxwell, Daniel Christian, Washington Sundar, Kyle Jamieson, Yuzvendra Chahal, Mohammed Siraj.
Fantasy tips
- Picking many spin options in the fantasy XI is most likely to be fruitful, given how much the surface at Chennai assists them.
- Hardik and Krunal Pandya alongside Glenn Maxwell are the best-suited all-round options, with a knack to dispatch big and bowl four overs as well.
- Surya, Ishan, Padikkal, Rohit, and de Villiers are excellent top-order choices, given that they can whack the ball on a slow surface as well. As was witnessed during IPL 2020 in UAE.
BlitzPools Fantasy XI
Ishan Kishan
Rohit Sharma (c)
Devdutt Padikkal (vc)
Suryakumar Yadav
AB de Villiers
Hardik Pandya
Krunal Pandya
Glenn Maxwell
Jasprit Bumrah
Yuzvendra Chahal
Rahul Chahar
BlitzPools Fantasy Play