Royal Challengers Bengaluru to Face Mumbai Indians in IPL 2026

 Raipur. IPL 2026 Under the 'double header' to be held today, the second match will be between defending champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru and Mumbai Indians. This match will start from 7:45 PM at the Shahid Veer Narayan Singh International Cricket Stadium in Raipur. This is Bengaluru's second home ground. The team has an opportunity to regain its rhythm. Despite a strong start, Bengaluru has lost three of its last five matches and is under pressure from two consecutive losses. Bengaluru is third in the points table with 12 points from 10 matches. However, the result of the match between Rajasthan and Gujarat could push it to fourth place. The team needs to win to stay in the race for the knockout stage. These two teams will face each other for the 36th time. In the 35 matches played so far, Bengaluru has won 15 and Mumbai has won 19 matches. Bengaluru won one match that ended in a draw. In the only encounter between these two last season, Bengaluru was victorious. In the first meeting of this season, Bengaluru also defeated Mumbai by 18 runs at Wankhede Stadium. Bengaluru's top-order concern Bengaluru's biggest concern is its top-order batting. Jacob Bethell, who replaced Phil Salt, has not performed as expected so far. He has scored only 14, 20, 5, and 4 runs in four innings respectively. This has increased the pressure on Virat Kohli to score runs. Wicketkeeper batter Jitesh Sharma has also been struggling this season, with his highest score being only 23. Failure to score runs in the middle overs has been a major reason for the team's defeat. Kohli is the team's highest run-scorer with 379 runs in 10 matches at a strike rate of 164.06. On the other hand, Bhuvneshwar Kumar has become the top wicket-taker in the entire IPL with 17 wickets. Mumbai strengthened by Rohit's comeback On the other hand, Mumbai Indians have shown their strength by chasing a target of 228 runs against Lucknow in the previous match. Rohit Sharma, returning from injury, signaled his return to form by playing an innings of 84 runs off 44 balls. Jasprit Bumrah and Trent Boult strengthen Mumbai's bowling. Ryan Rickelton is the team's highest run-scorer with 380 runs in 8 matches, while Allah Ghazanfar is the team's main wicket-taker with 12 wickets. Mumbai Indians captain Hardik Pandya could not play the previous match against Lucknow due to a back problem. Suryakumar Yadav captained in his place. Hardik has reached Raipur with the team, but whether he plays or not will be decided only after a fitness test. If he is fit, the team's balance will be even better. Who to watch Bhuvneshwar Kumar In a season where maximizing the powerplay is a priority for teams, Bhuvneshwar Kumar's effectiveness with the new ball has been a big weapon for Bengaluru. When he performs well at the start, Bengaluru's bowling looks excellent. In 10 matches this season, he has taken 3 wickets five times and has taken 9 wickets in the powerplay alone. Ryan Rickelton After being out of the team for a few matches with single-digit scores, Ryan Rickelton has made a spectacular comeback. He has just come off an unbeaten match-winning innings of 83 runs, and just two matches ago, he played an unbeaten innings of 123 runs, the best of his career. Both these innings came at a strike rate of over 200. Raipur's pitch and weather conditions The last IPL match in Raipur was played in 2016. The pitch here is generally slow, but this time it is expected to be conducive to batting. Rain on Saturday may change the behavior of the pitch. The temperature on Sunday is estimated to reach up to 40 degrees, while it may drop to 24 degrees at night. Team information Since Phil Salt is still unavailable, Bengaluru will likely take the field with an unchanged team. Royal Challengers Bengaluru (Probable): 1. Virat Kohli, 2. Jacob Bethell, 3. Devdutt Padikkal, 4. Rajat Patidar (Captain), 5. Jitesh Sharma (Wicketkeeper), 6. Tim David, 7. Romario Shepherd, 8. Krunal Pandya, 9. Bhuvneshwar Kumar, 10. Josh Hazlewood, 11. Suyash Sharma, 12. Rasik Salam. Hardik Pandya has joined the Mumbai team in Raipur, while Suryakumar Yadav will reach only on Sunday morning. Pandya, who missed the previous match due to a back problem, also did not participate in Friday's optional practice. His condition will continue to be assessed. Mumbai Indians (Probable): 1. Rohit Sharma, 2. Ryan Rickelton (Wicketkeeper), 3. Naman Dhir, 4. Suryakumar Yadav, 5. Tilak Varma, 6. Hardik Pandya (Captain)/Corbin Bosch, 7. Robin Minz/Raj Bawa, 8. Deepak Chahar, 9. Trent Boult, 10. AM Ghazanfar, 11. Jasprit Bumrah, 12. Raghu Sharma. Statistics and interesting information This will be Mumbai Indians' first match in Raipur. Jitesh Sharma has an average of only 8.00 in eight innings. Rickelton's record varies greatly depending on the location. This season, his average at home is 54.5 and strike rate is 178.7. But away from home, these numbers drop to 22.3 and 147.7 respectively.