IPL 2025: RCB Playing XI vs MI- Match 20

The 2016 runners-up of the Indian Premier League (IPL), Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB), made a powerful start to the 2025 season of the event with a massive win over the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) at the Eden Gardens.

They extended the good work against the Chennai Super Kings. Their death over’ batting, thanks to Tim David, was the difference between the two franchises. Despite carrying a lousy record of not beating the five-time champions at the MA Chidambaram Stadium since the inaugural 2008 season, they blew away the Ruturaj Gaikwad-led side comfortably.

However, they lost their previous and very first game against the Gujarat Titans by a huge margin at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru. RCB hopes to improve its bowling on high-scoring grounds in its next game against the Mumbai Indians at the Wankhede Stadium.

IPL 2025- RCB Playing XI vs MI- Match 20

Openers- Virat Kohli and Phil Salt

In both the two encounters that RCB has won, it’s Phil Salt who has provided RCB the much more important aggressive start with the bat inside the powerplay overs. He and Virat put up a huge opening stand in the opening game to kill the chase from the start and took on the bowlers.

Even against Chennai, on a slow surface, where batting was not the easiest job, and Virat Kohli was struggling at a run-a-ball, Salt clubbed the sixes and fours to keep them ahead in the fixture and grabbed the vital momentum.

But both veteran players struggled in the last game against the Gujarat Titans. Kohli pulled Arshad Khan straight into the hands of the square region while Salt was bamboozled by Mohammed Siraj’s special delivery.

Against Mumbai, on a good batting surface, it will be essential for both the opening batters to provide them a very good platform in the first six overs.

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Middle order- Devdutt Padikkal, Rajat Patidar (c), Liam Livingstone, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Krunal Pandya, Tim David

Devdutt Paddikal has had two failures in three group-stage games for RCB so far. The left-handed batter bashed Ravindra Jadeja in the middle overs and provided Kohli the time to get settled more on a spinning surface. But he has struggled against the Pacers in all three games.

Rajat Patidar, the captain of the side, nailed a fine half-century against Chennai but couldn’t do much against the Titans. Jitesh Sharma, the wicket-keeper batter, nailed 33 runs in 21 balls when they needed some power in the middle order at a strike rate of nearly 160.

In the last encounter, the entire top four of the Bengaluru side failed, and the management hopes to do better in this department during the middle overs.

The positive for RCB from the last encounter is Liam Livingstone’s contribution. The right-handed batter drilled 54 runs in 40 balls at a strike rate of 135, while Tim David fired up with 32 runs in just 18 balls at a strike rate of 180.

Bowlers- Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Josh Hazlewood, Yash Dayal, Rasikh Salam/Suyash Sharma

Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Josh Hazlewood picked up early wickets in the powerplay for RCB during the game against Chennai. But they failed to repeat the same heroics against the Titans. Bhuvi was excellent with his overall spell of 1/23 in four overs, but the Australian pacer went for 1/43 in 3.5 overs.

Yash Dayal used his pacer phenomenally to have figures of 0/20 in three overs at an economy rate of 6.70. All three RCB pacers need to do well against Mumbai.

But the discussion will be around playing Suyash Sharma. Krunal struggled in the last game with 0/34 in three overs, and it will be Suyash’s responsibility to pick up wickets in the middle overs.

RCB Predicted XI vs MI- IPL 2025, Match 20

Virat Kohli, Phil Salt, Devdutt Padikkal, Rajat Patidar (c), Liam Livingstone, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Tim David, Krunal Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Josh Hazlewood, Yash Dayal.

Impact sub: Suyash Sharma/ Rasikh Salam.

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