Royal Challengers Bangalore can move from fourth to first place in the points table by defeating Mumbai Indians today. RCB’s net run rate is better than all the teams, but the matter of concern for Rajat Patidar and team is that they have lost the last two matches. Today they face MI, who have had a bad journey this season but have won the last match. If Mumbai loses, it will be out of the race for the playoffs. The biggest question is whether Hardik Pandya will play today? He did not play in the last match due to injury. On the other hand, today once again Jacob Bethel can be seen starting the innings with Virat Kohli.

Will Jacob get another chance?

Royal Challengers Bangalore’s opening batsman Phil Salt had returned home after getting injured, but he has returned back to India. Although it is difficult for him to play against Mumbai Indians today, in such a situation Jacob Bethel can once again be given a chance, who has not been able to make much impact this season. He played 4 matches in IPL 2026, in which he scored only 43 runs.

Wicketkeeper batsman Jitesh Sharma is also out of form, which is a matter of concern for Bengaluru. He is not able to provide support with the bat in the middle order, in the last 2 matches he was out after scoring 1-1 runs and the team also lost in it. A total of 64 runs have come from his bat in 8 innings, although his replacement is not visible yet, so he can also play today.

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Apart from these, there are excellent bowlers in Bengaluru, if the team bowls first then Rasik Salam can get a place in the playing 11 and while batting, Tim David can come in his place as an impact player.

Will Hardik Pandya return?

In the absence of Hardik, Suryakumar Yadav captained the team in the last match and the team also won the match. In this match, Rohit Sharma scored 84 runs and Ryan Rickelton scored 83 runs, both of them made a partnership of 143 runs for the first wicket. But this pair will be tested today, because they will have Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Josh Hazlewood in front of them. If Mumbai bats first then Rohit Sharma can be in the playing 11, otherwise he can come as an impact player in place of Raghu Sharma in the second innings.

Hardik Pandya has returned to the Mumbai Indians team, he could not play in the last match due to being unfit. However, Pandya did not participate in the practice held on Friday, so it is difficult for him to play. If he plays, Corbin Bosch may have to be out.

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RCB’s probable playing 11

Virat Kohli, Jacob Bethel, Devdutt Padikkal, Rajat Patidar (captain), Jitesh Sharma (wicketkeeper), Romario Shepherd, Krunal Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Rasik Salam, Josh Hazlewood, Suyyash Sharma.

Impact Player: Tim David.

MI’s probable playing 11

Ryan Rickelton (wicketkeeper), Rohit Sharma, Tilak Verma, Suryakumar Yadav (captain), Naman Dheer, Will Jacques, Raj Bawa, Corbin Bosch, Deepak Chahar, Jasprit Bumrah, Allah Ghazanfar.

Impact Player: Raghu Sharma.