Royal Challengers Bangalore vs Mumbai Indians, 5th Match - Live Cricket Score, Commentary

Toss - RCB opt to bowl

No surprises there as Faf wants to chase. Michael Bracewell plays in place of Hasaranga and Reece Topley is picked to fill the void left by Josh Hazlewood. This is Rohit's 200th game as captain so he would love to break MI's opening game jinx. They haven't won their first game of the tournament since 2013.

Teams:

Royal Challengers Bangalore (Playing XI): Virat Kohli, Faf du Plessis(c), Glenn Maxwell, Michael Bracewell, Shahbaz Ahmed, Dinesh Karthik(w), Karn Sharma, Harshal Patel, Akash Deep, Reece Topley, Mohammed Siraj

Mumbai Indians (Playing XI): Rohit Sharma(c), Ishan Kishan(w), Suryakumar Yadav, Cameron Green, Tilak Varma, Tim David, Nehal Wadhera, Hrithik Shokeen, Piyush Chawla, Jofra Archer, Arshad Khan

Build up

Watching a sea of red at the Chinnaswamy is always a sight to behold during the IPL with the crowds constantly breaking into 'Rrrr ccccc bbbbb' chants. They have missed being out there and we have missed watching the action at this venue as well that's renowned for being batting friendly. A lot has changed in these four years. AB de Villiers is no longer present in that RCB squad to entertain the local crowd but Virat Kohli is still out there. New additions have been made, there has been a change in captaincy and more importantly, there has been a change in fortunes as well with RCB showing consistency over the last three seasons away from home.

The real challenge now is to replicate it in front of their home crowd. Historically, they have had a bad record here. But their bowling attack has improved considerably and they will be hoping to make an impact from now on to turn this into a fortress. RCB will still have to get through tonight though without the likes of Josh Hazlewood and Wanindu Hasaranga. While we wait to see who replaces them in the XI tonight, RCB have suffered a blow in the batting department as well. Rajat Patidar, who did an excellent job at No.3 for them last year, will not be available at least for a few games. The onus is now on the likes of Anuj Rawat, Suyash Prabhudessai and Mahipal Lomror to step in and support Faf du Plessis, Kohli and Glenn Maxwell.

To begin their campaign, they are up against a side that has its own issues heading into the tournament. Last season, they didn't have Jofra Archer and this time, they are without Jasprit Bumrah. Mumbai Indians do not have a menacing bowling attack and will rely on some unknown commodity to make an impact. It will also be interesting to see their batting order. They have spent loads on Cameron Green but with Ishan Kishan and Rohit Sharma in the side, where can the Australian potentially bat? Will Rohit move down to bolster the middle order especially with Kieron Pollard gone? We will find out shortly. Welcome to the live blog for the first game from the Chinnaswamy this season. Hopefully, a cracker is in store.