Mumbai Indians and Royal Challengers Bangalore prepare to open the 2021 IPL

The 2021 edition of the Indian Premier League kicks off as reigning champions Mumbai Indians take on Royal Challengers Bangalore.

The Mumbai Indians will be aiming to win their third consecutive tournament as the most successful team in the competition, lifting the trophy five in the last seven years. The Challengers on the other hand are yet to win an edition of the IPL, finishing as runners-up on three separate occasions.

RCB are determined to change their fortune however as they were the biggest spenders in this season’s auction. Their biggest buy was New Zealander Kyle Jamieson as the all-rounders took the spotlight for many teams this season.

Key players

The experience of both captains cannot be overstated in this fixture. Mumbai skipper, Rohit Sharma, has played 200 games in the IPL and has scored 5230 runs, only bettered by three batsmen in the competition’s history. One of those players, however, is RCB captain Virat Kohli. He is the leading run-scorer in IPL history and is desperate to guide his team to success.

An integral part of the Mumbai team is bowler Jasprit Bumrah. The 27-year-old finished as the team’s leading wicket-taker in each of their last three title-winning campaigns and has taken 109 wickets in his IPL career, the very first being Virat Kohli.

RCB have added to their impressive batting line-up of Kohli and AB de Villiers by signing Australian, Glenn Maxwell. The all-rounder has an impressive reputation in the competition, obtaining a better strike rate than the likes of Chris Gayle, Kieron Pollard, and Jos Buttler.

The new Tendulkar

In 2013, the legend that is Sachin Tendulkar played his last game in the IPL as he helped the Mumbai Indians win their first IPL trophy. This season, his son, Arjun Tendulkar will be hoping to make his debut for the same team as he was picked up in the auction for INR 20 lakh (£19,493).

The 21-year-old is a great outswinger of the ball and has the ability to add runs lower down in the batting order, much like teammate Hardik Pandya. There is no doubt all eyes will be on him when he steps onto the field.

Head-to-head

In the last five meetings, Mumbai has come out on top on three of the occasions. In total, the teams have faced each other 27 times, with Mumbai emerging victorious in 17 of those games to RCB’s ten.

The latter also ended the 2020 edition very poorly, losing their last five games in a row while their opponents went on to beat the Delhi Capitals in back-to-back games to win the trophy for a record fifth time.

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