Two teams, coming in with two similar results, will battle it out in the hope of finally grabbing a much-needed victory, and their first in the UAE leg of IPL 2021. Mumbai Indians are meeting Royal Challengers Bangalore, who met in the opening game of IPL 2021, at Dubai in a Sunday game.

Ahead of the important encounter between Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli’s teams, here are a few points to take note of:

Similar batting mishaps for the two teams

The openers of both MI and RCB have fired and done well to give the teams a good start in this leg of IPL 2021. However, the onus has been on how the batters ahead in the middle order provide support and take the team ahead.

MI, who last played KKR, had a 78-run opening partnership with Rohit (33) and Quinton (55) bringing in 56 runs in the powerplay.

In RCB’s previous game, playing against CSK, Devdutt Padikkal (70) and Virat Kohli (53) had seen the team to 111 before losing the first wicket.

Previous encounter between the MI and RCB

The teams locked horns in the first game of IPL 2021, back in April. RCB had edged out MI by two wickets, winning off the final ball of the innings. Chris Lynn had top performed for MI with 49 (35), and Jasprit Bumrah and Marco Jansen had taken two wickets each. For RCB, AB de Villiers (39) and Glenn Maxwell (48) had done well with the bat, and Harshal Patel had taken a five-wicket haul.

Jasprit Bumrah’s liking for RCB

Bumrah, who made his IPL debut against RCB, has a good record against the team. His very first IPL wicket was Virat Kohli’s, and in the last game against RCB too, he dismissed their skipper. He has now dismissed him four times. Bumrah has 21 wickets for MI against RCB overall, the best for an MI bowler.

Head-to-head battle

MI and RCB have been in 28 contests against each other. MI has enjoyed a healthy upperhand, winning 17 of those as opposed to 11 wins for RCB. Virat Kohli has the most runs for RCB against MI with 728 runs. For MI, it is Kieron Pollard with 546 runs.

Desperate for a win

Both teams, coming in with two back-to-back losses, will be desperate for a win that will put them in a stronger position to land a play-offs place. This game can have a drastic impact on what the points table can look like at the end of the week.

The teams will be clashing in the final encounter of the weekend at Dubai on Sunday, 7.30 PM IST.