IPL 2026: Mumbai Indians vs Rajasthan Royals Match Preview

Mumbai. Indian Premier League (IPL) is seeing its last 'double header' of the season, meaning two matches in one day, on Sunday. The first match will be played between Mumbai Indians and Rajasthan Royals at Wankhede Stadium starting at 3:45 PM. Rajasthan is in fifth place with 14 points and this is their last chance to reach the playoffs. On the other hand, Mumbai has managed to score only 8 points from 13 matches with 4 wins. The team is in ninth place and has already been eliminated from the tournament.

Rajasthan's Equation

If Rajasthan defeats Mumbai, they will reach 16 points. This will be more than Punjab and Kolkata. In such a situation, the team will directly reach the playoffs. If Rajasthan loses, the team will be out of the playoffs. So far, 31 matches have been played between Rajasthan and Mumbai. Out of these, Mumbai has won 16 matches and Rajasthan has won 15 matches.

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• Vaibhav Top Scorer, Jaiswal Also in Form

Vaibhav Suryavanshi is Rajasthan's top scorer. He is in fourth place in the race for the Orange Cap. Vaibhav has scored 579 runs in 13 matches at a strike rate of 236.32. He has one century and 3 half-centuries to his name.

Along with Vaibhav, Yashasvi Jaiswal can also prove to be a big threat for Mumbai. Jaiswal made the match one-sided by scoring 77 runs off 32 balls against Mumbai in Guwahati. Jaiswal hit his first IPL century at Wankhede 3 years ago. Among the bowlers, Jofra Archer has become the team's top wicket-taker with 18 wickets.

• Rickelton's Highest Runs, Ghazanfar Top Wicket Taker

On behalf of Mumbai, Ryan Rickelton has scored the highest 436 runs. Afghan spinner Allah Ghazanfar has taken the most 14 wickets.

The team's Indian star players have not performed particularly well this season. In such a situation, Suryakumar Yadav and Hardik Pandya have a chance to play a big innings in the last match. Fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah also wants to return to form. He has taken only 4 wickets this season. He has been playing white-ball cricket continuously for the last 6 months. He has been rested after the IPL.

• Bumrah vs Suryavanshi (Round 2)

The last time Rajasthan and Mumbai clashed, the world witnessed the battle between Vaibhav Suryavanshi and Jasprit Bumrah for the first time. Suryavanshi has already hit 53 sixes this season, but his six off Bumrah's first ball is perhaps the most memorable.

Suryavanshi faced only 5 balls from Bumrah but put pressure on the experienced bowler: one slower ball went onto his pads, and two attempts at yorkers turned into full tosses. Will these legendary bowlers outsmart the teenage sensation in Round 2 on Sunday?

• Pitch and Weather Report

Another high-scoring game is expected at Wankhede Stadium. 5 matches have been played here this season. Out of these, at least one innings in 4 matches has crossed 200 runs. Due to short boundaries, a lot of runs are scored here. Bowlers get swing in the initial overs of the powerplay. Rain might interrupt the game as there is a forecast of rain in some parts of Mumbai. According to AccuWeather, there is a 70% chance of rain on Sunday.

• Jadeja and Parag Available

If the Wankhede pitch does not become too slow, Mumbai might consider bringing in an extra fast bowler in place of rookie leg-spinner Raghu Sharma. Mumbai has used 24 players so far in this IPL, which is the most by any team. If they give a debut to Bihar's left-arm seamer Mohammad Izhar, he will be the 25th player.

• Mumbai Indians (Probable): 1. Ryan Rickelton (Wicketkeeper), 2. Rohit Sharma, 3. Naman Dhir, 4. Suryakumar Yadav, 5. Tilak Varma, 6. Hardik Pandya (Captain), 7. Will Jacks, 8. Corbin Bosch, 9. Deepak Chahar, 10. Jasprit Bumrah, 11. AM Ghazanfar, 12. Raghu Sharma/Shardul Thakur.

Jadega bowled and batted for some time in the nets at Wankhede a day before the match. Parag did not participate in Rajasthan's training session, but he is confirmed to play.

• Rajasthan Royals (Probable): 1. Yashasvi Jaiswal (Captain), 2. Vaibhav Suryavanshi, 3. Dhruv Jurel (Wicketkeeper), 4. Riyan Parag, 5. Donovan Ferreira, 6. Ravindra Jadeja, 7. Dasun Shanaka, 8. Jofra Archer, 9. Yash Raj Panja, 10. Brijesh Sharma/Tushar Deshpande, 11. Sandeep Sharma, 12. Sushant Mishra/Nandre Burger.

Statistics and Interesting Information

• Sandeep Sharma has dismissed Rohit Sharma 6 times in 13 IPL innings. In this process, he has allowed Rohit to score only 38 runs off 47 balls at a strike rate of 80.85. Jofra Archer's record against Rohit in T20 is also good: 3 wickets in 9 innings, only 36 runs off 36 balls.
• Suryakumar Yadav's performance against Sandeep in IPL is also not good: dismissed 4 times scoring 33 runs off 32 balls.
• Suryavanshi is only 7 sixes away from breaking Chris Gayle's record of most sixes in a single IPL season. Gayle had hit 59 sixes in 15 matches in 2012. Suryavanshi still has a chance to play up to 4 more matches in this IPL.
• Ryan Rickelton likes batting on the flat pitch of Wankhede very much. He has scored 326 runs in 5 innings here at an average of 81.50 and a strike rate of over 200.
• Tilak has been struggling against spin this season. Dismissed 6 times against spin in 10 innings, he has scored only 103 runs off 89 balls at a strike rate of 115.73. However, he has looked aggressive against fast bowling, where he has been dismissed only 4 times in 12 innings, scoring at a strike rate of almost 170.

What did they say?

'I don't think it's fair to blame just those four, as a whole team, many players have not been able to perform consistently. I have looked at it that way. Yes, they came with high morale after winning the World Cup. But what needs to be understood is that playing for the national team and playing for an IPL franchise can sometimes be different because the players and team structure are different.'

– Mahela Jayawardene, Mumbai Head Coach (speaking about Bumrah, Hardik, Suryakumar, and Tilak)

'Jaiswal is a very different kind of player than Vaibhav. He is also only 24-25 years old, so he is a young captain. He is very enthusiastic. He does very well in team meetings. He communicates very well with all the bowlers and batsmen. He is very keen to unite the team.'

– Trevor Penny, Rajasthan Assistant Coach (speaking about Jaiswal's leadership ability)