Preview: Mumbai Indians Vs Royal Challengers Bangalore

The thing about having a league and knock-out format in a competition like the IPL is that it could potentially penalize teams that have played consistently well but end up having an off-day. However, on the flip side is the fact that if a team truly wants to be considered the best in the competition, it must not only be able to play consistently well, but also raise its game at critical moments - and it doesn't get more critical than a semi-final.

Bangalore and Mumbai have played each other twice in the tournament, winning one match each, but apart from that there hasn't been too much equality in the two sides' performances.

Mumbai have looked solid throughout, and out of 13 games played at or near full-strength they won 10. Their final match against Kolkata was lost, but Mumbai rested a huge amount of key players for that. Bangalore have had a stop-start second half of the tournament, and only their good net run-rate took them through to the semi-finals ahead of Delhi and Kolkata who were level on points with them. However, Bangalore have immense pedigree, and no one can deny the quality they bring to the table in terms of players.

Mumbai have had the quality and superlative performances, which gives them the advantage going into the match. But once the match starts, both teams will be on an even footing, each knowing that this is almost a fresh chapter in the tournament and that for all practical purposes the league phase can be discounted, and the semi-finals and finals treated like almost a separate tournament.