Mumbai Indians (MI) and Royal Challengers Bangalore (RC) will eye a winning return as they square off in Match 48 of the Dream11 Indian Premier League (IPL) 2020 at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday.

While MI are coming into this game on the back of their 8-wicket loss against Rajasthan Royals (RR), this will be RCB's first game since their loss against Chennai Super Kings (CSK). Both the teams have played 11 games each, have 7 wins against their name and are currently in the top half of the points table.

Mumbai Indians' loss against Rajasthan Royals exposed a few vulnerabilities that the other sides could use to their advantage. After a scintillating win over CSK, MI's bowling attack that looked sharp and deadly suddenly turned into a pedestrian as Ben Stokes and Sanju Samson scored at a rate that no team was able to score against Mumbai Indians yet. Mumbai Indians' spinners, who had done so well were hammered away for plenty and could be in for a difficult time against a power-packed batting lineup of RCB. We believe that it was more of a one-off affair, and the likes of Bumrah, Pattinson, and Boult will bounce back strongly in the upcoming match. Besides, AB de Villiers and Virat Kohli have had fair bit of troubles against leg-spinners and Rahul Chahar could be in business.

Just like their bowling, Mumbai Indians' batting looked out of sorts as well. Had it not been for Hardik Pandya, who scored 60 off 21, they would have had to settle for a lot less. Barring Ishan Kishan and Suryakumar Yadav, none of Mumbai's other batsmen looked in control on a slowing wicket as the Royals' spinners strangled MI batsmen in the middle overs. This match is once again going to be played on a slow surface and handling spinners will be a key. The thing that works for Mumbai Indians that RCB doesn't really have too many spinners who can spin the ball a long way.

MI was terrific in the tournament before they lost to Rajasthan Royals and they would want to get back to the winning ways. The injury to Rohit Sharma has definitely sparked a few speculations and we are once again likely to see Sharma sitting out in the pavilion. Kieron Pollard is a pretty capable captain and will take charge of Mumbai Indians yet again.

Just like Mumbai Indians, Royal Challengers Bangalore too have been a terrific team in the tournament so far, but are coming off a rather unanticipated loss to CSK.

Bowling has always been the Challengers' Achilles' heel, but RCB's management did a tremendous job to get their bowling in order. Also, Virat Kolhi has so far juggled around his bowlers to perfection and used Washington Sundar well too. RCB's bowlers, in-turn have responded brilliantly. It's worth mentioning that RCB's last win came solely on the back of their bowlers as Chahal, Siraj, and Saini wreaked havoc on KKR's batting unit as RCB won the match with seven wickets and plenty of overs to spare.

While everything seems to be working well for the Royal Challengers Bangalore, they would be disappointed by the way their batsmen played against the Super Kings. Their bowlers, as well, failed to utilize the conditions to their advantage as the Super Kings won the match by eight wickets. Almost everyone has contributed well with the bat for RCB, but the onus to accelerate the innings has only been on Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers.

The addition of Chris Morris immediately helped RCB in both the departments of the match. To add depth to their batting lineup, RCB brought in Moeen Ali in for Isuru Udana in the last match and were clearly left searching for options to pick wickets. Given the wicket-taker, Udana is, we might see him sneak back into the playing eleven in this upcoming match. Even though RCB have done pretty well, the frequent chops and changes haven't really helped the zero-in on a perfect combination.

Overall, Royal Challengers Bangalore have done well in the tournament so far, but most of their wins have come on the back of Kohli-ABDV or their bowling. While Devdutt Padikkal has done well, he hasn't really played an imposing knock yet. Also, Aaron Finch's form at the top of the order will certainly be a cause of concern for the Challengers' management.

Weather Forecast
The temperature is expected to be around 28 degrees during the match. The forecast shows no chance of rain. The humidity will be around 65 per cent and the wind speed around 13 kmph.

Pitch Report
In the recent game, we saw the track getting inclined more towards batsmen. Also, as the evening progresses the pitch will support batsmen and bowlers will have a tough time to take a grip of the ball due to dew factor. The team batting first would like to put a total of at least 180 runs on the board.

Toss Prediction
Teams batting second emerging triumphant more often than not in the recent matches. Much of that is due to the surface getting lively under lights. Dew too has had a massive impact in the last few matches and the same is likely to be the case yet again. The captain winning the toss is expected to field first.

Stats and Facts
Head to head: Matches Played: 28 Mumbai Indians: 18br> Royal Challengers Bangalore: 10

Approaching Milestones:
Jasprit Bumrah needs 1 wicket to complete 100 IPL wickets.
Ishan Kishan requires 7 runs to complete 1000 IPL runs.
Aaron Finch needs 27 runs to complete 2000 IPL runs.
AB de Villiers requires 39 runs to complete 750 IPL runs against MI.
De Villiers needs 19 runs to complete 9000 in T20 cricket, while Tiwary is 13 short of 3000.

Likely XIs:
Mumbai Indians: Ishan Kishan, Quinton de Kock (wk), Suryakumar Yadav, Saurabh Tiwary, Hardik Pandya, Kieron Pollard (capt), Krunal Pandya, James Pattinson, Rahul Chahar, Trent Boult, Jasprit Bumrah

Royal Challengers Bangalore: Devdutt Padikkal, Aaron Finch, Virat Kohli (capt), AB de Villiers (wk), Moeen Ali, Gurkeerat Singh, Chris Morris, Washington Sundar, Navdeep Saini/Umesh Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Mohammed Siraj

Players to Watch Out For:
Mumbai Indians: Ishan Kishan, Quinton de Kock, Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Kieron Pollard, Jasprit Bumrah

Royal Challengers Bangalore: Devdutt Padikkal, Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers, Chris Morris, Yuzvendra Chahal

Match Odds:
Mumbai Indians: 1.72
Royal Challengers Bangalore: 2.10

SantaBanta's Winner Prediction: Royal Challengers Bangalore

IPL 2020 Winner Live Odds
Mumbai Indians - 2.875
Royal Challengers Bangalore - 3.8
Delhi Capitals - 5
Kings XI Punjab - 6.5
Kolkata Knight Riders - 13
Sunrisers Hyderabad - 34
Rajasthan Royals - 34

Match Venue: Zayed Cricket Stadium, Abu Dhabi
Time: 7.30 PM IST
TV: Star Sports Network
Live Streaming: Disney+ Hotstar VIP