Mumbai Indians will be playing the Rajasthan Royals on Sunday at the Sheikh Zayed Cricket Stadium in Abu Dhabi.

Both teams have faced each other on 24 occasions out of which MI has emerged victorious 12 times against RR's eleven wins. They also constituted the final of the 2013 Champions League T20 which was won by MI.

MI will be playing their seventh game at Abu Dhabi that might give them a boost considering their proximity to the conditions. On the other hand, RR have lost their last two matches at the same ground.

Here we take you through some of the talking points ahead of the RR vs MI match:

Team Form

Mumbai Indians have won six out of their last seven matches in Dream11 IPL 2020. On the contrary, RR haven't had a great campaign so far. The Steve Smith-led side needs to win all their last three encounters and also hope other results go their way to remain in the fray for the playoffs.

MI are coming off a dominating victory against their arch-rivals CSK whom they defeated by ten wickets. On the other hand, RR lost by eight wickets despite reducing SRH to 16/2 at one stage. Rajasthan are currently lurking at the seventh position on the points table.

Flashback

Both teams clashed at the same venue in their previous encounter as well. Winning the toss and electing to bat first, Mumbai were off to a flying start. Suryakumar Yadav scored a splendid knock of 79* (47) as MI posted a total of 193/4 on the board.

As for Rajasthan Royals, they lost three wickets in the first three overs and never recovered from there. Jos Buttler was the only batsman who got going with 70* (44) as RR was bundled for a total of 136 runs. Jasprit Bumrah led the pack with the best bowling figures of 4/20.

Top Order Finesse

Quinton de Kock has been MI's highest run-scorer so far with an aggregate of 368 runs. Ishan Kishan who came in as an opener in the previous game raced his way to a fantastic inning of 68* (37). Suryakumar Yadav has got two fifties in the tournament so far and will look to get going. Saurabh Tiwary who was quite promising at the start of his IPL campaign will look to raise his game to the next level.

Rajasthan have been opening with a new pair in the last few games with Robin Uthappa and Ben Stokes. Both haven't been at their best yet. Sanju Samson showed glimpses of his talent with a 36 (26) against SRH and will look to spend more time at the crease. Skipper Steve Smith has oscillated between scoring half-centuries to getting dismissed cheaply. He will be crucial for RR's chances in the middle.

Extraordinary Finishers

Kieron Pollard is yet to be dismissed after the first match as he averages an unbelievable 208 in this season so far. Hardik Pandya has made it count with some valuable contributions at the lower order. Krunal Pandya has gone bonkers and at the same time batted with patience when promoted above in the order. Nathan Coulter-Nile played a significant cameo in the backend overs against KXIP.

Jos Buttler looks more confident batting at the lower order and his 70* (48) after CSK reduced his side to 28/3 was a proper match-winning knock. Rahul Tewatia and Riyan Parag have also contributed immensely to the lower order and helped finish games. Jofra Archer with a strike rate of 198.15 this year has also displayed his audacity with the bat if required.

Fiery Bowling

Trent Boult finished with his best bowling figures of 4/18 in the previous game. Jasprit Bumrah got two-in-two with the new ball. Together, both form a dangerous bowling pair for the opposition. Nathan Coulter-Nile bowled decent lengths too. Rahul Chahar has been quite consistent, having picked a couple of wickets each in the last three games. Krunal Pandya has bowled economically in the powerplay overs which has put the batsmen under pressure.

Archer has led the bowling charts for RR with 15 wickets. With an economy rate of 6.62, he has also managed to put the brakes in the death overs. Kartik Tyagi went wicketless for the first time in the previous match and has also been a bit on the expensive side. Ankit Rajpoot also hasn't been amongst the wickets. The spin duo of Shreyas Gopal and Rahul Tewatia have chipped in with wickets and conceded lesser runs.

Approaching milestones

- Pollard requires 37 runs more to complete 3000 runs in IPL

- Pollard is also 7 sixes away from completing 200 sixes in IPL

- Krunal requires 27 runs more to complete 1000 runs in IPL

- Krunal is also 5 wickets away from completing 50 wickets in IPL

- Ishan is just 44 runs short of completing 1000 runs in IPL

- Bumrah is 1 wicket away from completing 100 wickets in IPL

Players to watch out for

Kieron Pollard: Leading the team on behalf of Rohit, the big man from Trinidad and Tobago did a fabulous job with the bowling changes. Since Kieron Pollard bats at the lower order, he has got a minimum period to make an impact. Despite that, he holds a strike rate of 200 this season and helped MI finish many games.

Hardik Pandya: The 27-year old hasn't got much opportunity to show his batting prowess but has managed to clear the ground on several occasions. Hardik Pandya's strike rate of 160.78 is the second-best for MI this season. He has a big knock pending this season and it is about time.