Matthews and S Sajana are at the crease. Matthews is on strike. Renuka Singh will open the attack

The RCB players in a huddle with Mandhana doing the talking.

Teams:

Mumbai Indians Women (Playing XI): Hayley Matthews, Nat Sciver-Brunt, Priyanka Bala(w), Harmanpreet Kaur(c), Amelia Kerr, Amanjot Kaur, S Sajana, Pooja Vastrakar, Humaira Kazi, Shabnim Ismail, Saika Ishaque

Harmanpreet Kaur: We wanted to bat. We wanted to see how it goes. It's a new day, new game, I have to start from ball one. It's an honour to have so many match-winners in the team. Yastika is not well, Bala is playing.

Smriti Mandhana: We'll like to field first. It's a fresh wicket. It'll be good to know what the total we are chasing. It was hard, the way we played, one run doesn't define us. We played some good cricket. We have to be good in all three departments, that's going to be crucial. We are unchanged.

Royal Challengers Bangalore Women (Playing XI): Smriti Mandhana(c), Sophie Molineux, Ellyse Perry, Sophie Devine, Richa Ghosh(w), Georgia Wareham, Disha Kasat, Shreyanka Patil, Asha Sobhana, Shraddha Pokharkar, Renuka Thakur Singh

Harmanpreet Kaur: We wanted to bat. We wanted to see how it goes. It's a new day, new game, I have to start from ball one. It's an honour to have so many match-winners in the team. Yastika is not well, Bala is playing.

Smriti Mandhana: We'll like to field first. It's a fresh wicket. It'll be good to know what the total we are chasing. It was hard, the way we played, one run doesn't define us. We played some good cricket. We have to be good in all three departments, that's going to be crucial. We are unchanged.

Royal Challengers Bangalore Women have won the toss and have opted to field

Pitch Report | Woorkeri Raman: "It's a new pitch at the Arun Jaitley Stadium and therefore the dimensions will be different. Straight - 64 metres, square boundaries - 50 metres and 60 metres. The pitch looks hard and well prepared, the batters will have a reasonably good time here on this surface. The fast bowlers have to be very particular about the lines they bowl because they'll succeed by bowling a straighter line. 61% of the wickets have come from the stump-to-stump line. Their task is cut out."

18:30 Local Time, 13:00 GMT, 18:30 IST: Hello folks and a warm welcome to the penultimate group stage encounter of this year's WPL. The previous year's finalists have already progressed to the playoffs and the third spot hasn't been sealed yet. RCB, currently placed third, have an opportunity to clinch it tonight. They are up against the defending champions whom they have never beaten in three attempts. They come into this match on the back of an agonising 1-run loss at the hands of Delhi. Have they recovered from that? Even if they don't win, they are highly likely to progress as they have a superior NRR of +0.027 (UPW's: -0.371 & GG's: -0.873). Smriti Mandhana and Co., who have now lost two in a row, will be keen to get back to winning ways. This is a crucial game for their opponents as well. A MI win will take them to the top of the table and they'll remain there if DC lose to GG tomorrow. Can they win three in a row? When these two sides faced off against each other earlier in the tournament at the Chinnaswamy Stadium, Mumbai registered a convincing win. What's in store today? Let's hope we are treated to a thriller. Stick around, toss and team updates coming up in half an hour...

Preview

Mumbai Indians and Royal Challengers Bangalore will be coming into Tuesday's contest with different motives. While one would be eyeing the top spot on the points table, the other would be chasing a top-three finish. For either to find themselves there, they would need a win.

A win secures RCB a place in the top-three. A loss, on the other hand, depending on the margin, leaves hopes open for Gujarat Giants and UP Warriorz to make it to the next round. Similar is the situation for Mumbai Indians in their battle for the top spot alongside Delhi Capitals.

Both teams are also coming at the back of having faced contrasting results in tight finishes in their respective previous games. While Harmanpreet Kaur's blazing 95 powered Mumbai Indians to an unlikely victory over Gujarat Giants, RCB came close but fell one short against Delhi Capitals.

More importantly, while MI are more or settled in their style of play extending from the previous season, and have found some additional support from Amanjot Kaur and S Sajana this season, RCB are still to find their perfect batting combination with the existing personnel. In that department, the reliance, for now, continues to be heavily on Smriti Mandhana, Ellyse Perry and Richa Ghosh. In their last league game, they would need the Sophies - Devine and Molineux - to play more impactful roles with the bat.

For as reliant as RCB and MI will be on the result tomorrow, so will the other three teams in the competition. It's all headed for an exciting finish to the league stage.

When: Tuesday, March 11, 2024, 7:30 PM IST

Where: Mumbai Indians vs Delhi Capitals, Arun Jaitley Stadium, New Delhi

What to expect: Certain pitches have aided high scoring games while certain have made even small targets quite daunting. Irrespective of which pitch they play on, it will be low and slow, a kind of surface with which both teams would be quite familiar by now.

Team News:

Mumbai Indians: Despite a bit of hiccup in the previous game, Mumbai Indians are unlikely to make any changes

Probable XI: Hayley Matthews, Yastika Bhatia, Nat Sciver-Brunt, Harmanpreet Kaur, Amelia Kerr, Amanjot Kaur, S Sajana, Pooja Vastrakar, Shabnim Ismail, Humaira Kazi, Saika Ishaque

Royal Challengers Bangalore: S Meghana had missed the previous game and it remains to be seen if she'll be available for RCB's last encounter of the league stage. There could also be a case of bringing Simran Bahadur back into the side to strengthen the fielding and lower order batting.

Probable XI: Smriti Mandhana, Sophie Molineux, Ellyse Perry, Richa Ghosh, Disha Kasat/ S Meghana, Georgia Wareham, Shreyanka Patil, Simran Bahadur/Shraddha Pokharkar, S Asha, Renuka Thakur

What they said:

"Would tell the girls to keep their heads high and come back stronger the day after" - Smriti Mandhana, RCB skipper, after her team's 1-run loss against Delhi Capitals.

"It was a very big game for us, we had to win so that we wouldn't put any pressure on us (going forward)... Definitely have an eye on finishing first to get into the final" - Harmanpreet Kaur, MI skipper, after the win against Gujarat Giants.

Squads:

Royal Challengers Bangalore Women Squad: Smriti Mandhana(c), Sophie Molineux, Ellyse Perry, Sophie Devine, Richa Ghosh(w), Georgia Wareham, Disha Kasat, Shreyanka Patil, Asha Sobhana, Shraddha Pokharkar, Renuka Thakur Singh, Ekta Bisht, Kate Cross, Sabbhineni Meghana, Nadine de Klerk, Simran Bahadur, Indrani Roy, Shubha Satheesh

Mumbai Indians Women Squad: Yastika Bhatia(w), Hayley Matthews, Nat Sciver-Brunt, Harmanpreet Kaur(c), Amelia Kerr, Amanjot Kaur, S Sajana, Pooja Vastrakar, Humaira Kazi, Shabnim Ismail, Saika Ishaque, Chloe Tryon, Fatima Jaffer, Keerthana Balakrishnan, Issy Wong, Jintimani Kalita, Priyanka Bala, Amandeep Kaur