IPL 2021: Rajasthan Royals v Mumbai Indians Betting Tips

IPL 2021: Rajasthan Royals v Mumbai Indians – Preview and Prediction. Every match of the IPL we will provide betting tips. Also, have a listen to the Bet Central Podcast below

>

Betting Preview

For Mumbai Indians, the hunt for a playoff spot continues as they take on Rajasthan Royals this afternoon. The two teams have quite an interesting head-to-head record. Out of the 24 games played between them, Mumbai Indians have won 12 games while Rajasthan Royals walked away victorious on 11 occasions. One of them produced no result. The last time the two teams met, Mumbai Indians won the match by seven wickets.

After playoff appearances in 9 of the last 11 seasons (including five titles), are we witnessing the end of an era for Mumbai? Prior to Covid-19 stalling the season, the Men in Blue had enjoyed back-to-back wins and it seemed a formality that another deep playoff push would transpire. However, what has followed after the move to the UAE has been a 1-4 W/L record with no innings total over 155.

Considering the Mumbai bowling attack is ranked second for economy allowed (7.99 runs per over), it is hard to direct blame for the team’s poor form on them. Focus instead needs to be aimed at Quinton de Kock (116.02), Rohit Sharma (124.91) and Suryakumar Yadav (128.32) who are all going at a strike rate lower than their past four seasons.

After two straight seasons of missing out on the playoffs, it would be easy to look at Rajasthan’s current 5-7 W/L record and say this has been another wasted year. But with Jos Buttler, Ben Stokes, Jofra Archer and Andrew Tye barely featuring all season, the fact the Royals still have a playoff chance is a testament to the squad’s fight and determination.

And while the Royals will go into this H2H as the clear underdog, there is reason to contemplate an upset. Not only have Rajasthan won five of the last seven H2H’s, but their main weakness – bowling where they concede a tournament worst 171 runs per game – is a direct matchup to Mumbai’s own weakness of batting, which finds them averaging 153.75. Despite that, I would still go for a Mumbai Indians win at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium.

Stat Attack

Rajasthan win 75% of their matches (18 from 24) at a neutral venue when winning the toss and batting second.

No Mumbai bowler other than Jasprit Bumrah or Rahul Chahar has achieved the best match figures this season.

Sanju Samson has been the Royals top batsman five times this year, and of those five, four have also resulted in him being the highest scoring batsman in the match.

Barring Rohit and de Kock, no Mumbai batter has crossed the 250-run mark for the season. All their batters, meanwhile, have combined to pass 50 only six times, with only de Kock doing so more than once.

Players To Watch

Three of Rohit Sharma’s last six innings has seen him finish with a strike rate under 100. Only once prior in his 212 IPL game career has he had four innings in seven with a strike rate under a run a ball. Mustafizur Rahman has failed to take a wicket 11 times in his IPL career. Of those 11 matches, he secured at least one wicket in the following match on eight occasions.

Best Bets

Suggested Bet: Mumbai Indians to win 1.60

Suggested Bet: Bumrah to be MI’s top bowler 3.25

Suggested Bet: Highest individual score to be under 67.5 (1.54)