Royal Challengers Bangalore are yet to win the Indian Premier League and will be hopeful of starting the 2023 edition on a high when they begin their campaign against Mumbai Indians on Sunday — here’s the predicted XI for RCB against MI, as well as the IPL tournament prediction for the Faf du Plessis-led side.

Royal Challengers Bangalore have managed to reach the playoffs in the last three editions of the IPL, but have fallen short of winning their maiden title. They won the Eliminator against Lucknow Super Giants in 2022 but went down to Rajasthan Royals in the second Qualifier.

RCB in IPL 2023: Team news

The team is grappling with a number of injuries, with the biggest absence being Josh Hazlewood, who is recovering from Achilles tendonitis. He is expected to miss at least the first seven games of the season, after also failing to recover from the injury during the recent four-match Test series against India. He was first plagued with the injury in December 2022.

Rajat Patidar, who scored a hundred during RCB’s Eliminator last year, has a heel injury and will miss the first half of the season as well, while Will Jacks has been ruled out due to a muscle injury and has been replaced by Michael Bracewell.

Wanindu Hasaranga will be unavailable for the first few games as well due to international commitments.

RCB in IPL 2023: Full squad

Royal Challengers Bangalore: Faf du Plessis (c), Virat Kohli, Glenn Maxwell, Harshal Patel, Wanindu Hasaranga, Josh Hazlewood, Mohammed Siraj, Dinesh Karthik, Anuj Rawat, David Willey, Shahbaz Ahmed, Mahipal Lomror, Finn Allen, Rajat Patidar, Siddarth Kaul, Karn Sharma, Suyash Prabhudessai, Akash Deep.

Royal Challengers Bangalore schedule: Full fixtures of RCB in IPL 2023

RCB in IPL 2023: Predicted XI for the first match

Faf du Plessis (c), Virat Kohli, Anuj Rawat, Glenn Maxwell, Mahipal Lomror, Michael Bracewell, Shahbaz Ahmed, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Reece Topley, Harshal Patel, Mohammed Siraj

RCB in IPL 2023: Prediction

The franchise will miss two of its key overseas players for the first few games, which affects their team balance. Their fast bowling has been inconsistent in the past, and without Hazlewood, they will face a stiff challenge yet again. A lot will depend on their batting unit if they want to advance to the top four this season.

Gujarat Titans are favourites to retain their IPL title with our Match Centre partners bet365. To bet on the outright market of the competition head here.