Royal Challengers Bangalore V Mumbai Indians CLT20 2011 Final Live: Mumbai Bat First After Winning Toss

The Mumbai Indians have surprised everyone by getting to the final, while Royal Challengers Bangalore have come back from two games down to ensure that they go into the Champions League T20 final as favourites.

Pitch report:

It will be a different pitch from that at Bangalore. That would be understating the obvious. It was a national highway at M Chinnaswamy, while the Chennai pitch is akin to the Mumbai roads after a heavy lashing. Should make for a better contest between the bat and the ball, but could just have some more runs in it than the typical Chennai pitch in the tournament.

Especially if Gayle, Dilshan and Kohli get going.

Toss:

Mumbai Indians win toss and decide to bat first, a decision on expected lines. Mumbai had won the semi-final similarly, batted, scored 160 and defended. While Vettori said he would have batted first as well, secretly, he may not be too unhappy given the manner in which they have bowled in the tournament so far.

Teams:

Both have gone for the same team as the one which won the semi-finals. This means that Bangalore go in with a bowler short – no Syed Mohammad for them.

Background:

That the Royal Challengers Bangalore have been batting-reliant while the Mumbai Indians have got to the final on the basis of their bowling strength can be seen from the lists. In the top five run-getters’ list, there are two Bangalore batsmen, Gayle and Kohli, while in the top five bowlers’ list, there are a couple of Mumbai Indians, Lasith Malinga and Abu Nechim.

Both sides have never won a trophy yet – neither the IPL, nor the CLT20. The closest that the Mumbai Indians came to getting a trophy home was in the 2010 IPL when they lost the final to the Super Kings. Bangalore have been runner-up twice, in 2009 and 2011 IPL. The first time, they lost to the Deccan Chargers, before going down to the Super Kings in the second final.

Tonight, one of them would end up with their first title.