Match 20 brings us a colossal tussle between two heavyweights of the Indian Premier League, with five-time champions Mumbai Indians taking on the Royal Challengers Bengaluru at the Wankhede on April 7.
For the game, here are our preview and predictions.
Indian Premier League 2025 | Match 20: Mumbai Indians vs Royal Challengers Bengaluru | 19:30 IST, April 7
The Mumbai Indians find themselves in a spot of bother after just one win four games, while the Royal Challengers, after two dominating away victories against the Kolkata Knight Riders and the Chennai Super Kings, are coming into this game having been humbled at home by the Gujarat Titans.
Having thoroughly outplayed KKR in their previous home encounter at the Wankhede, MI’s bowling proved toothless against the Lucknow Super Giants at the Ekana Stadium. If not for Hardik Pandya’s heroics with the ball, LSG looked on course for a much bigger total than the 203 they posted in the end.
Without Rohit Sharma, who missed the match due to a knock to his knee in the nets, MI opted for Will Jacks to partner South African Ryan Rickelton to open the innings. However, both openers perished in similar fashion—guiding the ball straight into the hands of the fielder at deep backward point.
Naman Dhir, who was promoted up the order, played a blistering innings (46 off 24), though it was Digvesh Rathi who took his wicket and turned the tide in LSG’s favour with his economical bowling. Tilak Varma came on as an Impact Sub but failed to get going, scoring 25 off 23 before retiring out in the 19th over. Despite quality knocks from Suryakumar Yadav (67 off 43) and Hardik Pandya (28* off 16), MI fell short of the target by 12 runs.
RCB, on the other hand, playing their first game at the Chinnaswamy, were thoroughly outclassed by the Titans in Match 14. Having been asked to bat first with a bit of grass on the surface, Arshad Khan, Ishant Sharma, and former Royal Challenger Mohammed Siraj decimated the RCB top order with the new ball.
With the team reeling at 42/4, English all-rounder Liam Livingstone (54 off 40) and Jitesh Sharma (33 off 21) stitched together a partnership, while an 18-ball-32-run cameo from Tim David helped RCB post 169/8 at the end of their 20 overs.
With the ball, RCB hardly posed any questions, with the likes of Sai Sudharsan and Jos Buttler leading the run chase. While seamers Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Yash Dayal looked in good rhythm, in the end, GT chased down the total with 13 balls to spare.
At the Wankhede, RCB will have their work cut out if they are served a wicket similar to the one that was used in the MI-KKR game. Navigating early swing against the likes of Trent Boult and Deepak Chahar will be key for their batters. However, the same can be said for the Mumbai Indians, with Josh Hazlewood and Bhuvneshwar Kumar capable of taking early wickets.
Traditionally, most teams have won here while chasing, with both dew and dimensions assisting the team batting second. With two evenly-matched teams, the side with the better Powerplay with the bat should come out on top in this encounter.
Fantasy XI: Jitesh Sharma, Ryan Rickelton, Virat Kohli, Rajat Patidar, Suryakumar Yadav (c), Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya (vc), Liam Livingstone, Josh Hazlewood, Trent Boult, Deepak Chahar
Venue: Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai
Winners Prediction: Mumbai Indians
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