Last Updated on 2 months by Charbel Coorey

IPL 2021 Match 1: MI vs RCB Dream11 Prediction Possible Playing 11 Pitch Report | MI vs BLR Dream11 Prediction Today | Mumbai Indians vs Royal Challengers Key Players | Chennai Pitch Report

The 14th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL 2021) is upon us. The season will kick off with defending champions Mumbai Indians taking on Royal Challengers Bangalore in what promises to be an intriguing clash at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai. 

Proven winners. World-class operators. Tons of depth. Yes, you guessed right, we are talking about the Mighty Mumbai Indians. It would be quite fair if we say in the last 5 years Mumbai has slowly displaced Chennai as the IPL’s most decorated franchise.

People say improving on perfection is quite tough but the defending champions have done quite well by bringing in Adam Milne as an upgrade to James Pattinson, re-signing Nathan-coulter Nile, and bringing in Piyush Chawla into their spin department, which was only their area of concern last year. On the whole, Mumbai seemed to have a stronger squad than the one which defended the Title six months back. Needless to say, they will be among the hot favorites for the Title yet again.

The World knows that Mumbai Indians have only won 31% of their opening matches but Fantasy nuts should also know that they have a history of surprising their opponents by picking someone out of the box in the first match of IPL. In 2018 it was Mayank Markande who picked a 3-fer on debut, In 2019 it was Rasikh Salam and last season it was Saurabh Tiwary. Most of their surprise picks have bought good fortunes to Fantasy Nuts and they should keep an eye on who is coming next. With Chepauk Pitch traditionally slow and RCB recent woes, the surprise pick can come from their spin department.

On the other hand, Royal Challengers Bangalore has been the most entertaining team in the history of the IPL as they have arguably the most dynamic batting stars in the competition’s history in Virat Kohli & AB de Villers. Add to that T20 Stars in Glenn Maxwell, Daniel Christian, Kane Richardson and it only gets better. Along with Devdutt Padikal, they also have a hidden gem in Rajat Patidar who is expected to make waves this season.  

RCB death bowlers have not had the best time in IPL which also means Daniel Sams and Kyle Jamieson have a point to prove. Bangalore hopes will also be on  Saini-Siraj Duo who have gained a good amount of International experience now. After a miserable struggle in the last few years, Bangalore was quite impressive in last year’s IPL and finished at the fourth spot last year. 

Key Players to Watch/Key Stats

• Rohit Sharma–  Captain Fantastic is among the all-time top run-scorers in the IPL, only behind Suresh Raina and Virat Kohli. It would be quite fair if we say IPL 2020 was a quiet season for Sharma’s standards and he could only manage 332 runs from his 12 games. Against RCB he has 510 runs from his 26 games at an average of 29. His Average against them goes up to 36.3 while batting first. At Chennai, he has 152 runs at an average of 21.7.
• Suryakumar Yadav – After a sensational International debut, Yadav’s confidence would be SKY high. He was also one of the strong reasons behind MI’s dominance last year. He made 480 runs from 16 games at an average of 40 and the best score of 79* which came against the RCB.  Overall he has 220 runs at an average of 27.5 in his 12 games. However, he averages 48.7 while batting at no.3 against the Challengers with 146 from runs 4 games.
• Ishan Kishan – Like SKY, Young Kishan was brilliant on his debut as well. He has the top run-scorer for Mumbai Indians last season with 516 runs from his 14 games at an incredible average of 57.33. Against Challengers, he has 200 runs from 7 games at an average of 28.6. 
• Quinton de Kock– Once a Challenger, Quinny has done remarkably well for the Mumbai Indians. He had a 500 run season last year at an average of 35.92. Against his former side, he has 338 runs at an average of 42.2 from his 8 innings.
• Hardik Pandya – Flamboyant Pandya provides an incredible balance to the side with his all-around ability. In 11 innings against RCB, he has 217 runs at an average of 54.2. His average is on the higher side because of being not-out in the back-end of the innings. He has also picked 5 wickets against the Challengers and all his 5 wickets have come bowling first.
• Kieron Pollard – Mighty Polly loves playing against RCB and has a terrific record against them. In 21 innings he has 537 runs at an average of 41.3 and also has 11 wickets.
• Krunal Pandya – Senior Pandya is coming on the back of a terrific domestic season.
• Jasprit Bumrah –  Bumrah is pure Box-Office! He picked 27 wickets last season. Overall against RCB he has 19 wickets from his 15 innings at a strike rate of 18.3. However, he strikes at 13.5 against them bowling second with 8 wickets from his 5 innings.
• Trent Boult – After a couple of average seasons in the IPL, Boult was at his very best last season. He picked 25 wickets, out of which 16 came in the powerplay. Against RCB, he has picked 9 wickets from his 5 games. Overall in his T20 bowling career, he does well bowling first.
• Rahul Chahar –  Chahar had a good IPL 2020 as well. Against RCB he has picked 2 wickets from his 3 games and both the wickets came while bowling first. With RCB’s recent struggle against leg-spin, he will be a good pick in Grand Leagues.  
• As stated earlier, MI can also surprise by bringing Piyush Chawla, he has 19 wickets from his 21 games against RCB at a strike rate of 21.5. He also has 9 wickets from his 7 games at this venue.

Royal Challengers Bangalore:

• Virat Kohli – Consistency, Class & Elegance are some of the synonyms which are used quite often for Virat. Super V showed clear intent to lift his maiden IPL Title when he said he will back to his opening position. He has the most runs (637) in MI vs RCB games and has done relatively better while batting second. 
• Overall at Chepauk, he has 173 runs from his 6 games.
• AB de Villers– ABD deserves a Statue by the sea for his contribution to this beautiful game. He loves playing against MI. In 22 innings against them, 726 runs at an average of 45.4.  Also, his average goes up to 58.2 while batting first. The only slight concern here is that he has not played competitive cricket after the IPL.
• Glenn Maxwell – RCB has chanted Maxwell Mantra and all RCB Fans hope that he lives up to the expectation this time around. In 12 games against his former side, he has 254 runs at an average of 21.2.  
• Daniel Christian – Serial T20 Winner has returned to the IPL and quite Ironic that his last match was also against Indians where he could not finish the match and Rising Pune Super Giant lost the final to Mumbai. He has unfinished business. In 7 innings against MI, he has 104 runs at an average of 19.8. He has also picked 6 wickets out of which 4 came bowling first. Overall also he has one well while bowling first.
• Yuzvendra Chahal – Chahal is a genuine wicket-taker and RCB go-to bowler. He picked 21 wickets last season. Against MI he has 19 wickets from 13 games at a strike rate of 15.8. He is a much better bowler while bowling first and his striker rate drops to 12.7. On the Chennai deck, he will be a crucial pick alongside Washinton Sundar who will be playing at his home ground. Sundar has picked 5 wickets from his 7 games against MI.
• Navdeep Saini – Saini has played thrice against MI and has not picked up a single wicket.
• Mohammad Siraj – Siraj has picked 7 wickets against MI out of which 5 Wickets came bowling second.

Also read: 5 big predictions for IPL 2021

Stats and Facts

• Overall Played 29 | MI 19 | RCB 10
• RCB has won 62% of their opening games. MI just 31%.
• Rohit & ABD have four 50+ scores in MIvRCB games – most by any batsmen.
• In eight years as captain, Rohit has led MI to five IPL titles. He is the most successful IPL captain. 
• In the last eight years, RCB has played only 4 games at Chennai and lost all of them while Mumbai has played 5 games and won all of them. 
• RCB have lost their lost 5 consecutive games.

Predicted Playing 11

Quinton De Kock’s availability for the first game is not certain as South African players have to go a mandatory 7 quarantine after arrival.

Mumbai Indians: 1. Ishan Kishan, 2. Rohit Sharma (c), 3. Suryakumar Yadav, 4. Hardik Pandya, 5. Kieron Pollard, 6. Krunal Pandya, 7. Nathan Coulter-Nile/Adam Milne, 8. Rahul Chahar, 9. Trent Boult, 10. Jasprit Bumrah, 11. Piyush Chawla

Unfortunately, All-Rounder Daniel Sams have tested covid positive and will miss this match. Devdutt Padikkal has tested negative and will join up with the RCB squad.

Royal Challengers Bangalore: 1. Virat Kohli (C), 2. Devdutt Padikkal, 3. Glenn Maxwell, 4. AB de Villiers (wk), 5. Rajat Patidar/Sachin Baby, 6. Daniel Christian, 7. Washington Sundar, 8. Kyle Jamieson, 9. Mohammed Siraj, 10. Navdeep Saini, 11. Yuzvendra Chahal

Chepauk Chennai Pitch Report and Conditions

Chepauk has been a traditional slow wicket and anything above 160 is considered a decent total. The average first innings score in IPL 2019 at the venue was 144.

With humid conditions on offer, either side will prefer to chase at the venue upon winning the toss.

Dream11 Prediction (this may change closer to the match)

Option 1:

Option 2:

Match Prediction

In the last eight years, RCB has played only 4 games at Chennai and lost all of them while Mumbai has played 5 games and won all of them. RCB is on a 5 match losing streak as well.

We are going against the odds and back RCB to win, given that MI rarely win their first game of the season.