Royal Challengers Bangalore and Mumbai Indians will play the 18th match of IPL 2022 on Saturday at the Maharashtra Cricket Association (MCA) Stadium, Pune. With 2 wins in 3 matches, RCB are placed in the 5th position in the points tally. They lost the opening game against Punjab Kings but came back strongly in the last two matches. In the previous match against Rajasthan Royals, RCB chased down a target of 170 runs courtesy of Dinesh Karthik. Karthik made 44 runs off 23 deliveries and finished the game for RCB.
Mumbai Indians, on the other hand, have lost all their 3 matches. In the previous match against Kolkata Knight Riders, MI lost the match after Pat Cummins went berserk against their bowling attack. Cummins went on to hit the fastest IPL half-century and won the match for KKR in 16 overs. MI would be looking to make some changes to their bowling line-up.
Here are 3 players you can avoid in your fantasy teams for the RCB vs MI game:
1. Anuj Rawat
Anuj Rawat has been opening the innings for RCB since the first game along with captain Faf du Plessis. In the very first game, he made 21 runs off 20 deliveries and added 50 runs for the first wicket with Du Plessis. Against KKR in the second game, Anuj was dismissed for a duck in the very first over. In the previous game against Rajasthan Royals, Anuj did make 26 runs off 25 deliveries. Anuj is a wicketkeeper, therefore, might not be your first choice due to the presence of Ishan Kishan and Dinesh Karthik. You can avoid Anuj in your fantasy team for this game.
2. Sherfane Rutherford
Sherfane Rutherford has scored over 1400 runs in 89 T20 matches at a strike rate of 130. However, he has not been able to reciprocate the same in this edition of the IPL. He didn’t get a chance to bat in the first game. Against KKR, Rutherford took 40 deliveries to score 28 runs. In the previous match, Rutherford again failed to keep the scoreboard ticking. He could make only 5 runs off 10 deliveries. RCB might look to replace Rutherford in this game with Glenn Maxwell, hence, avoiding him in your fantasy team might be a good decision.
3. Daniel Sams
Daniel Sams managed to pick his first wicket for MI in the previous game against KKR. In the same game, Sams gave just 15 runs in his first two overs. He came on to bowl the 16th over of the match and KKR required 35 runs off 30 deliveries to win the game. Sams went on to bowl the third most expensive over in IPL history as he gave away 35 runs and KKR won the match by 5 wickets. In the first game against Delhi Capitals, he gave away 57 runs in 4 overs. You can look to pick some other bowlers in your fantasy team and avoid Sams for this match.
