The first home game for the Mumbai Indians could not have come at a better time. They have lost their opening two matches of IPL 2024 while playing away and they will need their 12th man – home fans – to back them against Rajasthan Royals, who have won both of their games.

MI are under the pump and their bowling unit conceded 277 against SRH in the previous game, which is now the highest innings total in the history of the tournament.

Pandya’s captaincy also came under the scanner as he re-introduced Jasprit Bumrah into the attack in the 13th over when Abhishek Sharma and Travis Head had done the bulk of the damage. Ergo, MI will look to pull up their socks in the bowling department.

On the other hand, Rajasthan Royals have won both of their matches and they will look to carry forward the winning impetus. RR has heavily invested in Riyan Parag and the Assamese batter is finally proving his mettle.

The right-hander scored 43 runs in the opening match against LSG whereas he scored a match-winning 84 against Delhi Capitals. Parag looks like a different batter and he deserves a lot of credit for working behind the scenes.

Match Prediction: Mumbai Indians will enter the contest as favorites against Rajasthan Royals.

MI Squad: Hardik Pandya (c), Rohit Sharma, Dewald Brevis, Suryakumar Yadav, Ishan Kishan, N. Tilak Varma, Tim David, Vishnu Vinod, Arjun Tendulkar, Shams Mulani, Nehal Wadhera, Jasprit Bumrah, Kumar Kartikeya, Piyush Chawla, Akash Madhwal, Luke Wood, Romario Shepherd, Gerald Coetzee, Shreyas Gopal, Nuwan Thushara, Naman Dhir, Anshul Kamboj, Mohammad Nabi, Shivalik Sharma, Luke Wood, Kwena Maphaka.

RR SQUAD FOR IPL 2024

Sanju Samson (c), Jos Buttler, Shimron Hetmyer, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Dhruv Jurel, Riyan Parag, Donovan Ferreira, Kunal Rathore, Ravichandran Ashwin, Kuldeep Sen, Navdeep Saini, Prasidh Krishna, Sandeep Sharma, Trent Boult, Yuzvendra Chahal, Adam Zampa, Avesh Khan, Rovman Powell, Shubham Dubey, Tom Kohler-Cadmore, Abid Mushtaq, Nandre Burger.