Time: October 28, 7:30 PM IST
Venue: Sheikh Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi
Pitch report
Three of the last four innings include totals in excess of 190 runs. If anything, the pitch has been a featherbed for batsmen.
Power players
The absence of Rohit Sharma has not affected Mumbai’s batting yet. His replacement, Ishan Kishan, has provided solid starts at the top with scores of 68* and 37. To add more fuel to the fire, Kishan’s highest score (99) came against Bangalore earlier this season. Overall, he has smashed 298 runs at a strike rate of 142.5.
Virat Kohli’s lowest score in the last 8 innings is an unbeaten 18. During this phase, he scored three fifties and as many forties. To put things into perspective, he is the safest player for captaincy in fantasy cricket.
With 374 runs, Quinton de Kock is the highest run-scorer of the season for Mumbai. His last 5 innings read 53, 78*, 53, 46*, and 6.
AB de Villiers has scored three consecutive fifties against Mumbai, also winning Man of the Match awards in all these matches.
Smart picks
Jasprit Bumrah has taken 9 wickets in 6 games at Abu Dhabi, including a four-wicket haul against Rajasthan. While Bumrah leads the bowling charts for Mumbai with 17 wickets, his bowling partner Trent Boult has taken only a wicket fewer than him.
Chris Morris has been a popular player on our fantasy app of late. He bowls in the power play as well as at the death and bats at No. 6 – the traits that fantasy players look in a cricketer. Morris has taken 10 wickets in a mere 6 games and has played a vital knock of 25* off 8 including three sixes and a four.
Yuzvendra Chahal has gone wicketless only once in 11 games thus far. It doesn’t come as a surprise that his 17 wickets are the most for Bangalore this season.
Hardik Pandya and Kieron Pollard make Mumbai’s batting more and more destructive. More importantly, both have been in ominous touch. In case you want to select only one of them, make sure you follow the following tips.
Fantasy tips
Go through the Player Fantasy Points and Selection Percentage before finalising your fantasy teams. For example, if a cricketer’s selection percentage is above 80%, you may have to think twice before leaving him out.
Also, the best fantasy tip to further narrow down your choices is to check the captain and vice-captain selection percentage.
Probable XIs
Mumbai: Quinton de Kock (wk), Ishan Kishan, Suryakumar Yadav, Saurabh Tiwary, Hardik Pandya, Kieron Pollard (c), Krunal Pandya, James Pattinson, Rahul Chahar, Trent Boult, Jasprit Bumrah
Bangalore: Devdutt Padikkal, Aaron Finch, Virat Kohli (c), AB de Villiers (wk), Gurkeerat Singh, Chris Morris, Washington Sundar, Isuru Udana, Navdeep Saini, Mohammed Siraj, Yuzvendra Chahal