The same captain, almost the same set of players and yet Mumbai Indians, the IPL champions of the last two years, seem to be a different team this season.

Mumbai could not have imagined that with a team packed with top T20 talents from across the globe, they would be languishing in the bottom half of the points table. Seventh out of eight teams is not something they would have expected at the start of the season.

But they don’t have time to ponder on what went wrong because if they lose the match against Rajasthan Royals on Tuesday, their play-off chances, already hanging by the thinnest of threads, will be as good as over.

Not that Rajasthan are in a better situation. They are positioned a place above Mumbai in the standings, but only because they have a marginally better net run rate.

The equation is pretty simple for both the teams, who have so far won just five of the 12 games they have played. They need to win their remaining two matches and win big to pull up their net run rate.

The fact that Rajasthan are coming off a stunning win over the in-form Chennai Super Kings is certainly not good news for Rohit Sharma’s Mumbai, who were beaten in their last game by Delhi Capitals. Sanju Samson’s Rajasthan will have their tail up and Mumbai will need a special performance to emerge winners from the contest.

Shivam Dube. Picture courtesy IPL

But the problem with Mumbai is that all of their batsmen seem to have lost their touch at the same time. The onus will be on captain Rohit and his opening partner Quinton de Kock to shake off the failures on Tuesday. But more important will be their middle order.

If Suryakumar Yadav, Kieron Pollard and Hardik Pandya don’t fire, it will not be easy for Mumbai to put up a fight.

All-rounder Hardik, who has stayed away from bowling, has got some runs in the last couple of games, but he is yet to rediscover his murderous form with the bat.

Contrast that with Rajasthan’s Shivam Dube. After warming the benches in the dugout for a long time, Dube grabbed the chance he got in the last game with both hands by playing a match-winning knock.

Young Yashasvi Jaiswal, who has been very impressive in this UAE leg of IPL 2021, too played a blinder in the last match to humble the Super Kings.

The bottom line then is that though points-wise there is no difference between

Mumbai and Rajasthan, the latter can at least boast of a couple of X-factors. Can Mumbai find a hero for themselves on Tuesday?