The league table has begun to take shape as we enter the business end of the Maharaja Trophy 2024 tournament, with the top 4 teams sitting fairly confidently with the knowledge of semifinals in store. Gulbarga Mystics are in second place, just above Bengaluru Blasters who are one point behind in third.

The remaining matches will give a good opportunity for these teams to finalize preparations before the semifinals while also giving time to their players to find good form before the knockouts.

LAST FIVE MATCHES RESULTS

BENGALURU BLASTERS: W W L W L

GULBARGA MYSTICS: W NR W W W

LIKELY PLAYING XIs

BENGALURU BLASTERS likely XI

Batters: Mayank Agarwal, Aniruddha Joshi, LR Chethan

Allrounders: Kranthi Kumar, Gneshwar Naveen

Wicketkeeper: Shivkumar Rakshith, Niranjan Naik, Suraj Ahuja

Bowlers: Shubang Hegde, Mohsin Khan, Lavish Kaushal

GULBARGA MYSTICS likely XI

Batters: Devdutt Padikkal, Smaran R, KV Aneesh, Faizan Riaz

Allrounders: Praveen Dubey, Yashovardhan Parantap, Abhishek Prabhakar

Wicketkeeper: Luvnith Sisodia

Bowlers: Prithviraj Shekawat, Ritesh Bhatkal, Vyshak Vijaykumar

STATISTICAL PERFORMANCE (BENGALURU BLASTERS)

1. LR CHETHAN

LR Chethan has been batting well in recent matches, and scored a half-century against Gulbarga earlier in this season as well while opening the batting.

LR CHETHAN IN MAHARAJA TROPHY

INNINGS - 6

RUNS - 187

AVERAGE – 31.16

STRIKE RATE – 139.55

50s/100s – 1/0

2. LAVISH KAUSHAL

Lavish Kaushal is fresh off a five-fer in the previous match for Blasters. He also took two wickets against Mystics in their contest earlier this season.

LAVISH KAUSHAL IN MAHARAJA TROPHY

INNINGS - 6

WICKETS - 10

STRIKE RATE – 13.20

ECONOMY RATE – 8.18

AVERAGE – 18.00

Players who can make a difference (BENGALURU BLASTERS)

1. Gneshwar Naveen

Gneshwar Naveen has been the pick of the bowlers in a strong Bengaluru bowling outfit. He has maintained an impressive economy of just 6.04 in 6 innings while also taking 10 wickets.

2. Mayank Agarwal

The Blasters’ captain is a constant threat of making big scores, as an attacking and senior batter at the top of the order.

STATISTICAL PERFORMANCE (GULBARGA MYSTICS)

1. ABHISHEK PRABHAKAR

Abhishek Prabhakar has made the most of his entry into the Gulbarga Mystics squad, taking 9 wickets in 3 innings including figures of 5/21 in the previous match.

ABHISHEK PRABHAKAR IN MAHARAJA TROPHY

INNINGS - 3

WICKETS - 9

STRIKE RATE – 8.00

ECONOMY RATE – 6.52

AVERAGE – 8.33

2. R SMARAN

R Smaran has been the pick of the batters for Gulbarga Mystics, scoring a century in a thrilling chase earlier this season. He is averaging over 50 in this tournament

INNINGS: 6

RUNS: 214

STRIKE RATE: 140.78

AVERAGE: 53.50

50s/100s: 1/1

Players who can make a difference (GULBARGA MYSTICS)

1. Luvnith Sisodia

Sisodia has been providing strong starts for Mystics while opening the batting, but has only managed to translate that into a half-century once. He will be due another big score given his form.

2. Devdutt Padikkal

As one of the senior players in the Mystics batting lineup, the tall southpaw is capable of putting on big scores when he gets into the groove at the top of the order.

TEAMS HEAD TO HEAD RECORD

VENUE AND PITCH

Every team has chosen to bat second at the Chinnaswamy Stadium, to take advantage of the dew factor as well as the smaller-sized boundaries in Bangalore. The average first innings score has been 158. The chasing team has won 12 out of 20 matches this tournament.

MATCH PREDICTION

The two teams are neck-and-neck in the table, but Gulbarga Mystics have been in a hot run of form with no losses in their last 5 matches. Bengaluru Blasters have looked shaky, including the tense super over contest in their previous match. It will be a tight match with a slight advantage to the chasing team, but Mystics are favourites by 60%.

FANTASY XI

Batters: Mayank Agarwal, Devdutt Padikkal, LR Chethan, R Smaran (c)

Wicketkeepers: Luvnith Sisodia

All-rounders: Gneshwar Naveen, Praveen Dubey, Abhishek Prabhakar (vc)

Bowlers: Shubang Hegde, Lavish Kaushal, Prithviraj Shekawat

Backup players:

Batter: KV Aneesh

Wicketkeeper: Suraj Ahuja

All-rounder: Kranthi Kumar

Bowler: Mohsin Khan

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