Mumbai Indians-Rajasthan Royals set to lock horns in 1000th IPL match

MI is in the eighth position in the points table with three wins and four losses. They have a total of six points. They had lost their previous match to Gujarat Titans by 55 runs. RR on the other hand is in the second position with five wins and three losses. They have a total of 10 points. RR had won their previous match against Chennai Super Kings (CSK) by 32 runs.

The match will be a battle of batters. Mumbai Indians has one of the most star-studded and exciting batting line-ups in the tournament. The opening duo of Ishan Kishan (183 runs) and Rohit Sharma (181 runs) has delivered for the most part so far with their positive starts and attacking strokes. Tilak Varma (219 runs) continues to be in good form, that he had in IPL 2022.

With Cameron Green (199 runs) and Suryakumar Yadav (146 runs) finally getting among runs, the Mumbai Indians line-up makes every match a worth-watching affair with their hard-hitting batting. The trio of Tilak-Green-Suryakumar can be really lethal in the middle to death overs.

But MI falls short when it comes to bowling in comparison to RR. Though Piyush Chawla (11 wickets) is enjoying a revival in cricket at its highest level, Jason Behrendorff (8 wickets), Riley Meredith (6 wickets), Cameron Green (5 wickets) and Arjun Tendulkar (3 wickets), with their economy rates near 10 or above it. Green notably has an economy rate of 10.45. Concerns over Jofra Archer's fitness are also there. He has had a disappointing IPL 2023, with only one wicket in two matches.

RR has a dangerous opening pair of Yashasvi Jaiswal (304 runs) and Jos Buttler (271 runs). On their day, which has been the case during nearly every RR fixture in IPL 2023, they can put any bowling attack on the backfoot right from the ball one. Skipper Sanju Samson (198 runs) and Devdutt Padikkal (192 runs) are not in their best form exactly, but cannot be ruled out. This strong batting line-up gets support down the order from two in-form finishers Shimron Hetmyer (196 runs) and Dhruv Jurel (130 runs), which has changed matches in their side's favour with their willow on some occasions.

RR becomes a better all-round side out of two with an equally lethal bowling attack. The spin trio of Yuzvendra Chahal (12 wickets), Ravichandran Ashwin (11 wickets) and Adam Zampa (5 wickets) have been magical with their bamboozling lines, lengths and flight. The pace attack is boosted by the likes of Trent Boult (9 wickets) and Sandeep Sharma (7 wickets).

Whatever the result may be, fans are guaranteed an amazing game of cricket with these two exciting sides locking horns. This game very well could be the perfect celebration of the festival that IPL has become over the years, with an age worth 1,000 matches old, which fans hope keeps increases every year.

Squads:

Mumbai Indians Squad: Rohit Sharma(c), Ishan Kishan(w), Cameron Green, Suryakumar Yadav, Tim David, Nehal Wadhera, Kumar Kartikeya, Arjun Tendulkar, Riley Meredith, Piyush Chawla, Jason Behrendorff, Tilak Varma, Sandeep Warrier, Jofra Archer, Vishnu Vinod, Ramandeep Singh, Shams Mulani, Hrithik Shokeen, Akash Madhwal, Duan Jansen, Arshad Khan, Tristan Stubbs, Dewald Brevis, Raghav Goyal

Rajasthan Royals Squad: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Jos Buttler, Devdutt Padikkal, Sanju Samson(w/c), Shimron Hetmyer, Dhruv Jurel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Jason Holder, Adam Zampa, Sandeep Sharma, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldip Yadav, Joe Root, Trent Boult, Murugan Ashwin, Navdeep Saini, Akash Vasisht, KC Cariappa, Obed McCoy, Riyan Parag, KM Asif, Kuldeep Sen, Donavon Ferreira, Abdul Basith, Kunal Singh Rathore. (ANI)