RCB face Mumbai Indians, hope to reignite 2016 spark

MUMBAI: After suffering six consecutive defeats, Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) finally tasted victory against hosts Kings XI Punjab on Saturday. Though they are still at the bottom of the points table going into Monday’s match against Mumbai Indians at the Wankhede Stadium, RCB will seek inspiration from how they turned things around after a similar run till the halfway stage three years ago.

In 2016, RCB won only two of their first seven matches before registering six victories in seven games to storm into the play-offs.

At the heart of RCB’S transformation that year were skipper Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers. Kohli topped the batting charts with a tally of 973 runs while De Villiers was the third highest run-getter with 687.

Both batsmen have succeeded only in patches this season. However, on Saturday, both clicked together and it resulted in RCB’S first win. Going ahead, RCB reprising their 2016 heroics will again depend on how these two perform in the remaining games.

If RCB’S fortunes have revolved around Kohli and De Villiers, Mumbai Indians’ rise and fall has depended a lot on skipper Rohit Sharma and bighitting Trinidadian Kieron Pollard.

In 2013 and 2015 when MI won the title, Rohit and Pollard were among the team’s most consistent performers with the bat. Pollard played a key role in Mumbai’s triumph in 2017 as well. This season though, neither has been at his best.