With three wins in last four games, MI have hit the recovery road to reach sixth spot in the points table after a poor start this season. File
| Photo Credit: R.V. Moorthy

After serving up two edge-of-the-seat thrillers in their previous games, Rajasthan Royals and Mumbai Indians clash at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium here on Monday with contrasting aspirations.

RR currently sits atop the IPL 2024 standings, failing to win only one out of its seven matches. The fightback from a precarious position against Kolkata Knight Riders, owing to Jos Buttler’s brilliance, will have further boosted the team’s morale. A win at home against the five-time winner could see the team solidify its position in the top two.

MI, conversely, finds itself embroiled in the mid-table scuffle, trying to string together a few positive results to aid its playoff chances. After a disastrous start to the campaign, losing three successive games amid lingering fan displeasure, the team has accumulated six points in the next four games.

Yashasvi Jaiswal’s dwindling returns are the only major concern for the table-topper, but the middle-order, led by Riyan Parag, has stepped up when required, ensuring the team’s long tail isn’t exposed.

The nail-biting win over Punjab Kings exposed a few chinks in the MI bowling armour — the opposition making a match out of it despite being reduced to 77 for six within the 10th over. The team might be forced to ring in a few changes to counter the frailty.

Rohit Sharma and Ishan Kishan have provided MI with the perfect platform at the top, but the team will need extended support from the middle-order to exact revenge on the Royals at its den.

Teams

Rajasthan Royals: Sanju Samson (c), Jos Buttler, Shimron Hetmyer, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Dhruv Jurel, Riyan Parag, Donovan Ferreira, Kunal Rathore, Ravichandran Ashwin, Kuldeep Sen, Navdeep Saini, Sandeep Sharma, Trent Boult, Yuzvendra Chahal, Avesh Khan, Rovman Powell, Shubham Dubey, Tom Kohler-Cadmore, Abid Mushtaq, Nandre Burger, Tanush Kotian, Keshav Maharaj.

Mumbai Indians: Hardik Pandya (c), Rohit Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav, Dewald Brevis, Jasprit Bumrah, Piyush Chawla, Gerald Coetzee, Tim David, Shreyas Gopal, Ishan Kishan (wk), Anshul Kamboj, Kumar Kartikeya, Akash Madhwal, Kwena Maphaka, Mohammad Nabi, Shams Mulani, Naman Dhir, Shivalik Sharma, Romario Shepherd, Arjun Tendulkar, Nuwan Thushara, Tilak Varma, Harvik Desai, Nehal Wadhera, Luke Wood.

Time: 7:30 p.m. IST

Mumbai Indians captain Hardik Pandya in action during the IPL match against Sunrisers Hyderabad at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad on March 27, 2024.
| Photo Credit: Deepak K R

Rajasthan Royals’ pacer Trent Boult on Sunday backed his former teammate Hardik Pandya to ‘block out white noise’ after the Mumbai Indians skipper found himself at the receiving end of crowd’s booing at Ahmedabad and Hyderabad in the ongoing IPL.

Pandya has taken over MI captaincy from Rohit Sharma this season upon his return from Gujarat Titans and the whole saga of change of leadership has not gone down well with the fans.

“It is something you cannot control, as professional sportspeople it is what you are exposed to in a way. You have to block out the white noise and focus on the job, (but) it is easier said than done,” Boult told the media here at the Wankhede Stadium.

Boult said the booing will eventually die down and backed Pandya to not get bogged down.

“There are a lot of passionate fans in this country and speaking of Hardik specifically, he is one of my favourite Indian cricketers and I do not think the booing will hold out for too long. I am sure, he is one of those guys who can put it aside and focus on the job,” Boult added.

Meanwhile, Mumbai Indians’ veteran spinner Piyush Chawla said the situation will change once the team, which has again made a disappointing start to the IPL losing the first two games, gets a win in their kitty.

“Well, that you can’t really help because you know, they are a crowd and whatever they are doing is beyond our control so we can’t really say what they are doing,” Chawla said.

Chawla claimed that Pandya has remained unaffected.

“The way Hardik has taken it…he is just focusing on the game, he is not even worried about what the crowd is doing and once we get a win under our belt, things will be totally different.” The right-arm spinner said MI have also looked to focus on the job at hand rather than focussing on what the fans have been doing inside the stadium.

“You get used to it, because you know, whatever is happening, whatever people are doing in the crowd, you can’t really help it because it’s beyond our control.

“We just have to focus on our game and whatever they are doing, let them do. We just have to focus on our cricket,” he said.

However, Chawla hoped that the ‘true’ Mumbai fans would show up on Monday at the Wankhede Stadium to support the team in their first home game of the season.

“At the end of the day it’s about the team; it’s not about the individual. I am really hoping when the crowd comes in tomorrow, they will support the team after the kind of start we had,” he said.