After they slipped in a banana-peel clash against Lucknow Super Giants, RCB lost their hold on a top-two spot in the points table. Moreover, Josh Hazlewood has gone at economy rates of 12.25 and 14 in his last two games, and Jacob Bethell has scored only 43 runs in four innings.
Things could have been different for Hazlewood if Jitesh Sharma had held on to Jos Buttler's catch during RCB's game against Gujarat Titans. Ifs and buts aside, he has been targeted and taken down - by Shubman Gill and Buttler at Ahmedabad and Mitchell Marsh and Rishabh Pant in Lucknow.
Bethell, too, hasn't been able to have the impact Phil Salt had. He has been caught in the deep three times in the powerplay with restricted fields. With Salt continuing to be unavailable, Bethell will have to find a way to get among the runs.
Mumbai Indians' situation is more perilous. A loss will confirm their elimination in what has been a horrid season for them. They are coming off a win and are playing an away game without home advantage for the hosts.
Ryan Rickelton and Rohit Sharma returning among the runs gives them a boost as does Naman Dhir's handy contributions. Their failing middle order has been a downer, though.
Jasprit Bumrah's surprising stretch of poor form makes MI's bowling fragile. It has also left their powerplay bowling in a mess. Their economy of 11.61 is the worst of all teams this season and their average of 49.78 is the fourth-worst.
A lot of things need to come together for MI to win. They will have some hope, though, as RCB have suffered back-to-back losses to lower-ranked sides.
Team news: Suryakumar available, Hardik in doubt
Phil Salt is still unavailable, so RCB will likely play an unchanged side.
Royal Challengers Bengaluru (probable) 1 Virat Kohli, 2 Jacob Bethell, 3 Devdutt Padikkal, 4 Rajat Patidar (capt), 5 Jitesh Sharma (wk), 6 Tim David, 7 Romario Shepherd, 8 Krunal Pandya, 9 Bhuvneshwar Kumar, 10 Josh Hazlewood, 11 Suyash Sharma, 12 Rasikh Salam
Hardik Pandya has joined the MI squad in Raipur, while Suryakumar Yadav will arrive on Sunday morning. Pandya had missed the previous game due to back spasms and wasn't part of the optional nets on Friday. He will continue to be assessed.
Mumbai Indians (probable): 1 Rohit Sharma, 2 Ryan Rickelton (wk), 3 Naman Dhir, 4 Suryakumar Yadav, 5 Tilak Varma, 6 Hardik Pandya (capt)/Corbin Bosch, 7 Robin Minz/Raj Bawa, 8 Deepak Chahar, 9 Trent Boult, 10 AM Ghazanfar, 11 Jasprit Bumrah, 12 Raghu Sharma