Upbeat Mumbai face RCB challenge

Mumbai, May 9: Having beaten table-toppers Cheni Super Kings convincingly on Friday, Mumbai Indians will be high on confidence and aim to hold on to their spot among top-four when they take on a strong Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in the return-leg of the Indian Premier League (IPL) at the Wankhede Stadium here on Sunday.

With five back-to-back wins, Mumbai are currently placed fourth in the standings with 12 points from 11 games, having won six and lost five, whereas RCB are placed one spot behind MI with 11 points from 10 games, with five wins and four losses.

The teams earlier met in the first-leg on April 19 where the Mumbai-based team came out victorious, beating RCB by 18 runs. Put in to bat, Mumbai posted a massive 209 runs on the board. RCB came close to the target but fell short, handing the visitors their first win of the season.

But Sunday will be a new day for the 2013 champions as the hosts will look to extend their winning streak after a sluggish start to the season.

In their last match against the CSK, the Rohit Sharma-led team was spot on in both their batting and bowling, winning by six wickets. After bowlers restricted CSK to 158, openers Lendl Simmons and Parthiv Patel displayed brilliant batting skills followed by late fireworks by Ambati Rayudu and Hardik Pandya which steered the team to a comfortable win.

Head-to-head, Mumbai have won nine and Bangalore six out of their last 15 encounters. IANS