Former Royal Challengers Bangalore captain Virat Kohli is just one hit away from becoming the second batter in the history of the Indian Premier League (IPL) to reach 550 fours while Rohit Sharma needs 51 more runs to touch the magical 10k mark in T20 cricket as the heavyweights meet in a high-octane clash on Saturday.
Kohli, who relinquished RCB captaincy after IPL 2021, has hit 549 fours in his 210 IPL matches and is second in the table for most fours in the tournament. Punjab Kings opener Shikhar Dhawan tops the chart with 664 fours from 195 games. The Royal Challengers Bangalore vs Mumbai Indians game starts at 7:30 PM IST on Saturday.
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On the other hand, Rohit Sharma, current India captain and five-timer IPL-winning Mumbai Indians skipper, so far has 9949 runs in 373 T20 matches at an average of 31.78. If he manages to score a fifty on Saturday at the MCA Stadium in Pune, the right-hander will become the seventh batter overall to score 10000 runs in the shortest format of the game.
Mumbai Indians are winless in IPL 2022 so far having lost all their three games, the latest at the hands of Kolkata Knight Riders, which saw a 14-ball fifty from Pat Cummins. Against RCB, Rohit Sharma’s troops will be desperate to get back on winning ways.
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On the other hand, RCB are coming into the game after a win against Rajasthan Royals, courtesy a 23-ball unbeaten 44 from Dinesh Karthik. Although RCB are favourites on Saturday, MI go into the game with a 17-11 head-to-head record over their rivals. Only one game resulted in a tie.
Elsewhere in Mumbai, Dwayne Bravo will fancy his chances of becoming the 11th Chennai Super Kings batter to complete 1000 IPL runs when the defending champions take on Sunrisers Hyderabad on Saturday.
The CSK all-rounder, who became the highest wicket-taker in IPL earlier in the tournament, has so far scored 982 runs in 109 matches and need just 18 runs to reach the feat. SRH’s Nicholas Pooran needs three maximums to become the 29th batter to complete a triple century of sixes in T20 cricket. He currently has 297 sixes in 219 matches.
Like Mumbai Indians, Chennai Super Kings too are languishing at the bottom half of the table with no wins in three games and will face Sunrisers Hyderabad in a battle of bottom-placed teams. This is also the first time CSK had lost all the opening three games in an IPL.
Statistically, CSK are in a far better position compared to SRH. The Ravindra Jadeja-led side have won 12 games out of 16 played between the two teams. In IPL 2021, CSK defeated SRH on both occasions in the round-robin stages.
