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IPL 2020 | DC vs MI: Match Preview, Predicted XI & Dream11 Fantasy Picks

Mayank Kumar


The Delhi Capitals will be men on a mission when they meet the Mumbai Indians in their next encounter in order to cement their playoffs berth. The last time the sides met was midway through the Indian Premier League this season when marching into the playoff round was a mere formality for both the sides. However, when Shreyas Iyer will walk on to field for the round two of the clashes between the sides, he will have tough questions hovering in his head and while he has shown impressive qualities of being an able leader and not letting his teammates feel the heat of the competition, he can't recuse himself from the feeling the pressure of facing two games of as much value as of knockout games against the two best sides of the league so far. 


The Capitals were showing signs of weakness and vulnerability with too many batsmen failing to make good use of the starts they had got in the initial phase of the tournament but the return of Shikhar Dhawan to his belligerence best at the top of the order and few cameos by the likes of captain Shreyas Iyer, Marcus Stoinis and Shimron Hetmyer had overshadowed the cracks in the batting line-up. The presence of a bowling line-up that turned out to be one of the best in the tournament also helped Iyer to negate the shortcoming in the batting department.


But, in the last three games, the bowling department too, had off days and that left the batting line-up and all its frailties wide open for the teams to exploit. After a long streak of poor scores, Shaw was dropped for the stability that Ajinkya Rahane had to offer but the promises have not been transformed into runs for the team and the Capitals have been left to do a lot of hard work in the middle phase after stuttery innings that Rahahne have played in his five outings. To be fair to the Capitals, their plans were marred by injury setbacks to key players such as Rishabh Pant, having said that, Pant has not looked his best after his comeback from the injury and it plagues the Delhi’s batting line up.


Captain Shreyas Iyer has not looked terrible with the bat and has amassed 389 runs from 12 outings in the season but he has not looked that dominating either that is the signature of his batting and has not quite won the Capitals a lot of games this season. Iyer and Pant have been the driving force of the Delhi Capitals’ engine in the past few seasons and they will need all the elements to work in a perfect manner as they plan to up the ante against the best in the league this year. 


On the other hand, even the Virat Kohli’s team combined with a lengthy spell of sledging could not prevent the juggernaut of Mumbai Indians in the last game. The team looks daunting in all departments and has been a revelation in the season with every batsman showing impeccable resistance to defensive batting or bowling. Irrespective of conditions and situations of the game, someone or the other stands up tall to win them the games with towering performances.


In the last game against the Royal Challengers Bangalore, Suryakumar Yadav stood his ground against the quality bowling of Yuzvendra Chahal and Chris Morris with an aggressive ploy of Virat Kohli to rattle him. In matches before the last game, the likes of Pandya brothers, Quinton de Kock and Ishan Kishan have sucked the life out of the opposition bowling line up. Whatever was left by the batsmen, were drained down by the ferocious spells of bowling by the trio of Jasprit Bumrah, Trent Boult and James Pattinson. The spinners in Rahul Chahar and Krunal Pandya have played the role of silent killers magnificently and have not allowed teams to take a breather after facing the pace trio with the new ball.

The Mumbai Indians have played this season like a side worthy of the title of 4-time champions and although the side is without the regular captain Rohit Sharma, Kieron Pollard had made sure that the side remains focussed with the ultimate goal of stamping their supremacy in the IPL history.

Delhi Capitals vs Mumbai Indians: Match details

Match Number- 51

Date: 31st October 2020, at 3:30 PM IST, 02:00 PM Local, 10.00 AM GMT

Venue: Dubai

Broadcast: Star Sports and Hotstar

Pitch and weather

A new pitch will be used for this game and that should offer a balanced contest between bat and ball at least with the new ball. Both the sides are full of natural strikers of the ball and a new pitch will assist their stroke-making as the ball will come nicely onto their bats. However, the likes of Kagiso Rabada and Anrich Nortje from the Capitals side and Trent boult, Pattinson and Bumrah will look forward to making the new ball talk and either side which will begin on a high against the new ball will start the game with a slight upper hand.


This will be an afternoon game and hence it should be no brainer to bat first after winning the toss. Yes, the side opting to bat first may bring impressive new-ball bowlers on either side into play but there will be plenty of run on offer against the new ball and both the sides will be tempted to feast on it.

Team News

Delhi Capitals

The Delhi Capitals don’t have any especially grave concerns to ponder about at this moment in terms of the team selection but the team management will expect better returns from Ajinkya Rahane and will bank on experience to come good for the team as they walk into the territory of must-win games.


Kagiso Rabada had a horrible run of form in the last game and was taken to the cleaners by David Warner in the powerplay and the team could never come back from the initial assault. The young pacer would like to put that game out of his mind and focus to team up with Anrich Nortje to run riots like they were doing at the start and the middle of the IPL 2020.


The team management has already stated that Prithvi Shaw was provided ample opportunities before the team had to drop him and it’s unlikely he will be trusted given his recent track record of throwing his wicket away in crucial games like these.

Expected XI

The Capitals are unlikely to change their playing XI however the alarm bells must have rung for Shimron Hetmyer after the last loss against the Sunrisers.


Ajinkya Rahane, Shikhar Dhawan, Shreyas Iyer (captain), Rishabh Pant (wk), Shimron Hetmyer, Marcus Stoinis, Axar Patel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Kagiso Rabada, Anrich Nortje, Tushar Deshpande

Mumbai Indians

Mumbai Indians are running like a full-fledged bank which has all its departments such as loans, deposits and recovery working at the full potential while the manager has the job of nothing more than but overseeing the situations that may become precarious and taking preemptive measures to avoid such situations.


Ishan Kishan has blossomed at the top and the swagger and flair he has displayed at the top of the order can make the likes of Virender Sehwag very proud while the bat swing will impress none other than Yuvraj Singh. He, as all the good players do, has grabbed the opportunity by the scruff of the neck and now the team should look to just cement its spot in the top two positions of the points table.


The uncertainty around the nature and the status of Rohit Sharma’s injury remains and the star batsman is likely to sit out for the game against the Capitals as well.

Expected XI

The Mumbai Indians have no reason whatsoever to change the playing XI that won them the game against a challenging RCB in the last encounter.


Ishan Kishan, Quinton de Kock (wk), Suryakumar Yadav, Saurabh Tiwary, Hardik Pandya, Kieron Pollard (c), Krunal Pandya, James Pattinson, Rahul Chahar, Trent Boult, Jasprit Bumrah


Delhi Capitals vs Mumbai Indians: Dream 11 team and suggestion

Rishabh Pant, Quinton de Kock, Shreyas Iyer, Shikhar Dhawan, Hardik Pandya, Suryakumar Yadav, Krunal Pandya, Anrich Nortje, Tushar Deshpande, Kagiso Rabada, Jasprit Bumrah

Captain: Shreyas Iyer

Vice-captain: Hardik Pandya

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