Royal Challengers Bangalore will open their IPL 2023 campaign against Mumbai Indians at their home ground of M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru on 2nd April. Both teams will want to get off to a winning start in the 16th season of the IPL.
RCB had a good run in the previous season as they qualified for the playoff stages but their journey was ended by eventual finalists Rajasthan Royals. The Bengaluru-based franchise will want to go all the way in the tournament, which unfortunately they haven’t done so far.
RCB has a potent bowling attack and it will be interesting to note how Faf du Plessis makes the most of it. While Josh Hazlewood will miss the initial stages of the tournament, RCB still boosts of bowlers like Mohammad Siraj, Harshal Patel, Wanindu Hasaranga, David Willey, and Reece Topley.
On the other hand, MI had finished the previous season as the wooden spooners as they could only manage four wins in the 14 league stage of the tournament. Thus, they will be looking to turn the tables in the forthcoming season.
The five-time champions will miss the services of Jasprit Bumrah but they are going to have Jofra Archer in their ranks, who can certainly deliver for the Rohit Sharma-led team. Moreover, MI has added Cameron Green to their roster, who is going to strengthen their final XI.
Match Prediction: Mumbai Indians might start as favorites against Royal Challengers Bangalore.
RCB IPL 2023 SQUAD
Wicketkeepers: Anuj Rawat, Dinesh Karthik.
Batters: Faf du Plessis (SA), Finn Allen (NZ), Virat Kohli, Rajat Patidar, Suyash Prabhudessai, Will Jacks (ENG).
All-rounders: Wanindu Hasaranga (SL), Mahipal Lomror, Glenn Maxwell (AUS), Shahbaz Ahmed, Sonu Yadav, Manoj Bhandage.
Bowlers: Akash Deep, Josh Hazlewood (AUS), Siddarth Kaul, Mohammed Siraj, Harshal Patel, Karn Sharma, David Willey (ENG), Avinash Singh, Rajan Kumar, Reece Topley (ENG), Himanshu Sharma.
MI Squad for IPL 2023:
Wicketkeepers: Ishan Kishan, Tristan Stubbs (SA), Vishnu Vinod.
Batters: Rohit Sharma, Tim David (AUS), Ramandeep Singh, Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Varma, Dewald Brevis (SA).
All-rounders: Nehal Wadhera, Shams Mulani, Duan Jansen (SA), Cameron Green (AUS).
Bowlers: Jofra Archer (ENG), Jasprit Bumrah, Arshad Khan, Jason Behrendorff (AUS), Kumar Kartikeya, Akash Madhwal, Hrithik Shokeen, Arjun Tendulkar, Raghav Goyal, Piyush Chawla, Jhye Richardson (AUS).
