More than a match between two teams — Mumbai Indians and Royal Challengers Bengaluru — Thursday's contest at the Wankhede in Mumbai is being billed as a battle between two greats of Indian batting, Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli.

This has added an extra edge to the encounter and will spur both players to bring out their best. Both teams have one win each, with Mumbai Indians triumphing against Delhi Capitals in their last match at home for their first points after three defeats.

RCB have won one and lost four. While their batting has floundered, Orange Cap holder Kohli has been the bright spot with 316 runs, including a century. His strike-rate though is only around 150.

Rohit on the other hand has struggled with only 118 runs to show, along with a highest score of 49, but he has a steady strike-rate of 171.

Mumbai Indians boast of a commendable record at the Wankhede, emerging triumphant in seven out of 10 games between the two sides.

The Wankhede traditionally favours batters, with high-scoring encounters being the norm, but the evening dew could pose a challenge to the team batting second.

While the likes of Rohit, captain Hardik Pandya and Ishan Kishan have returned among runs, RCB's batting leans heavily on Kohli with Faf du Plessis and Glenn Maxwell faltering repeatedly.

"We have had conversations about how we have played. Hardik has been playing a really important job for our team," Mumbai's Tim David told the media on Wednesday. "We struggled really hard for momentum towards the back end (against Delhi Capitals). Hardik played a perfect innings that set the platform for myself and Romario (Shepherd) to go on with at the end."

RCB pacer Reece Topley said it is "still relatively young" in the tournament and RCB have enough fire in the belly to turn it around.