The last match of the weekend will bring the Mumbai Indians and Delhi Capitals against each other in a much-awaited contest of two table toppers of the season. Both teams have excelled in this season in both bowling and batting departments. The teams have had a similar nervous start into the IPL 2020 but were good enough to bounce back emphatically.
Delhi Capitals have dominated the season so far, winning five out of six matches they have played with an impressive rune rate of 1.257 while the Mumbai Indians have squeezed the opposition batsmen while their batsmen have batted with immense freedom and flamboyance.
The Bowling lineup of both Mumbai and Delhi Capitals have one surprise each in their bowling lineup with James Pattinson and Anrich Nortje making headlines after coming into the tournament as replacements. Both the teams are riding high on wicket-takers in their bowling line with Trent Boult and Bumrah form a formidable triplet along with Pattinson while Delhi Capitals have their hopes running high on the pair of Kagiso Rabada.
There is little to separate between the two sides until now this season and the match may very well be their toughest battle both against bowlers as well batsmen of the other team so far in the season. Rohit’s Mumbai is more experienced and hence can be relied upon to hold their nerves but Shreyas Iyer’s side, too, has shown a certain sense of calmness to deal with some crunch moments of a particular game.
Although the teams have a very lengthy batting order, the openers have also played a significant role in building such a success story in this season for these teams but their task will be cut out as Rohit Sharma and Quinton de Kock will be up against Rabada and Nortje, followed by the crafts of Ravichandran Ashwin whereas Shikhar Dhawan and Prithvi Shaw will have to show their class against Trent Boult, Pattinson and followed by Jasprit Bumrah. Needless to say, the batsmen have a mountain ahead of them to cross over and earn a win for their respective teams.
The success story of these two teams can be stated with the fact that Sharjah which otherwise has turned out to be a nightmare for the bowlers could do little to dent the potency of the bowling line-ups of these teams. Both Mumbai Indians and Delhi Capitals won their last game in Sharjah on the back of strong bowling that dismantled the batting line-up of the opposing sides.
There are not a lot of things that the match will change in terms of teams’ positioning on the points table as the battle will be to become number one. Rohit’s slides will be eager to prove that they are consistent and can still win matches in quick succession while the Shreyas Iyer’s side will be itching to get out on the filed to establish that the team has matured over time and that the brand of cricket they play can produce favourable results for a considerably long period of time.
Match number- 27
Date: October 11, 2020 at 7:30 PM IST, 14:00 AM GMT, 6:00 PM Local
Venue: Abu Dhabi
A used pitch that was used in the match between the Kolkata Knight Riders and the Kings XI Punjab will be used again for the clash of the titans of the IPL 2020 and that may influence captains into deciding to bat first after winning the toss.
There are chances of due in the latter part of the second innings of the game and the Delhi Capitals rely on Ravichandran Ashwin and Axar Patel to bring good results with spin and the due factor may also add into the captain's dilemma after the toss. However, the threat of a slowing pitch should overweigh the threat of due in the last part of the game.
The weather in Abu Dhabi is likely to remain ideal to play cricket with the temperature hovering in the range between 30 degrees to 35 degrees and a possibility of breezes going across the ground will make the conditions pleasant for the players on the field.
Mumbai Indians have made the least number of changes to their playing XI so far in this season and the trend is likely to continue in the game against the Delhi Capitals as well. Rohit Sharma does not have any reasons either to tinker with the winning team and that means Nathan Coulter-Nile who missed out due to the injury will remain sitting out in the dugout even if he recovers from his injury.
Rohit Sharma (captain), Quinton de Kock (wk), Suryakumar Yadav, Ishan Kishan, Hardik Pandya, Kieron Pollard, Krunal Pandya, James Pattinson, Rahul Chahar, Trent Boult, Jasprit Bumrah
With Shimron Hetmyer coming good in the last game against the Rajasthan Royals, the Delhi Capitals look like a well-balanced side and there is a high chance that Shreyas Iyer and Ricky Ponting will not look to make any changes in playing XI.
Shikhar Dhawan has looked good so far in the tournament but he is yet to produce a match-winning effort on his own and with Ainkya Rahane sitting in the dugout, there will be some pressure on him to lead the team’s batting effort at the top of the order.
Prithvi Shaw, Shikhar Dhawan, Shreyas Iyer (captain), Rishabh Pant (wk), Marcus Stoinis, Shimron Hetmyer, Ravichandran Ashwin, Axar Patel, Harshal Patel, Kagiso Rabada, Anrich Nortje
Quinton de Kock, Ishan Kishan, Rohit Sharma, Prithvi Shaw, Shreyas Iyer, Kieron Pollard, Marcus Stoinis Trent Boult, Jasprit Bumrah, Rahul Chahar, Kagiso Rabada
Captain: Rohit Sharma
Vice-captain: Shreyas Iyer
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