Is Tilak Varma playing today's MI vs RCB IPL 2025 match? Check MI playing 11

As seen in the last few editions of the Indian Premier League (IPL), the Mumbai Indians (MI) are quite infamous for being tagged as the slow starters. The five-time champions normally take a few matches to adjust and thus, their performance at the start of every IPL season is not up to the mark. While continuing the trend, the Mumbai Indians conceded two consecutive defeats in the ongoing edition of the T20 tournament at the hands of Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and Gujarat Titans (GT). The Hardik Pandya-led team came back strongly to beat the defending champions Kolkata Knight Riders during their first home before suffering a heartening loss against Lucknow Super Giants. Mumbai Indians are currently placed at the eighth spot on the IPL 2025 points table with just a single win from 4 matches. 

Tilak Varma to play MI vs RCB IPL 2025 match?

In their fifth match of the Indian Premier League 2025 season, the Mumbai Indians will be hosting the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on 7 April, 2025. Tilak Varma faced a lot of backlash due to his struggles so far in this T20 tournament. However, there was a lot of drama when he was retired out in the 19th over against Lucknow Super Giants. The left-hander was struggling big time to hit boundaries in the chase of 204 runs and at 25 runs off 23 balls, the MI team management finally decided to call him, but they eventually ended up losing that game.

Interestingly, Tilak Varma has managed to score a total of 95 runs from 4 matches in IPL 2025 at a below-par strike-rate of 113. However, the Mumbai Indians team management have decided to back the youngster as head coach Mahela Jayawardene stated that Tilak will definitely play the MI vs RCB IPL 2025 match starting on Monday. But looking at the combination of the MI playing XI and with both  Jasprit Bumrah and Rohit Sharma expected to make a comeback, the southpaw might be drafted as the Impact Player. 

"I know it's a taboo created by everyone. In the modern age, it's more tactical, and we will keep changing batting lineups to match up certain bowling line-ups. He batted very well for us in the last three games in tough situations and built important partnerships," stated Mumbai Indians head coach Mahela Jayawardene in a recent interview.

"So, it was a tactical call and nothing to do with Tilak. Tomorrow, he will walk in and win the match for us. That's who Tilak is for us and there's so much value for him in our camp," he added. 

MI Playing XI

Rohit Sharma, Will Jacks, Ryan Rickelton(w), Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya(c), Naman Dhir, Mitchell Santner, Deepak Chahar, Jasprit Bumrah, Vignesh Puthur, Trent Boult.

MI IPL 2025 Squad

Hardik Pandya (C), Jasprit Bumrah, Suryakumar Yadav, Rohit Sharma, Tilak Varma, Trent Boult, Naman Dhir, Robin Minz, Karn Sharma, Ryan Rickelton, Deepak Chahar, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Will Jacks, Ashwani Kumar, Mitchell Santner, Reece Topley, Shrijith Krishnan, Raj Angad Bawa, Satyanarayana Raju, Bevan Jacobs, Lizaad Williams, Arjun Tendulkar, Vignesh Puthur.