IPL 2022: MI vs RR Preview – Mumbai confront ruthless Rajasthan

The Mumbai Indians will be locking horns with Rajasthan Royals in the ninth match of IPL 2022 at the DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai on April 2. While one team will be pumped up after an emphatic win, the other will be down after losing their tournament opener. MI suffered a four-wicket loss to Delhi Capitals, whereas RR registered an impressive 61-run win against the Sunrisers Hyderabad.

Despite a loss, Mumbai would be satisfied with the fact that skipper Rohit Sharma and his opening partner Ishan Kishan were among the runs. While Rohit scored 41 runs from 32 deliveries, Ishan remained unbeaten on a 48-ball 81 that helped MI post a challenging total of 177/5. Pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah might have gone wicketless, but promising speedster Basil Thampi and leggie Murugan Ashwin kept the Delhi batters on their feet with some tight bowling. Thampi finished his spell with figures of 3/35 from his four overs at an economy rate of 8.8 and Ashwin took 2/14 from his four overs at an economy rate of 3.5.

On the other hand, it was a complete all-round performance by the Royals with Jos Buttler and Yashasvi Jaiswal adding a 58-run opening stand before a solid 27-ball 55 from captain Sanju Samson and a vital 41 runs off 29 deliveries by the new recruit Devdutt Padikkal propelled the 2008 winners to a mammoth 210/6 from their 20 overs. The bowlers then worked in tandem for the Royals with the pace duo of Trent Boult and Prasidh Krishna chipping in with two wickets each before wrist-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal bowled a match-winning spell with figures of 3/22 from his four overs at an economy rate of 5.5.

Here’s the Predicted Playing XI of Mumbai Indians and Rajasthan Royals

Mumbai Indians

MI will be heaving a sigh of relief after their middle-order specialist Suryakumar Yadav joined the camp ahead of the clash against RR. He was undergoing rehabilitation at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bengaluru due to a hairline thumb fracture that he had suffered last month during the West Indies series.

Rajasthan Royals

South African T20I specialist Rassie van der Dussen was not included in the Playing XI for the Royals’ opening clash against Hyderabad and now, it would be interesting to see whether the promising middle-order batter gets a chance against the five-time champions.

Probable XI