MATCH PREVIEW
Follow UsHardik Pandya and Mumbai Indians haven’t done too many things right in the 2024 Indian Premier League. The ace all-rounder has struggled with his own form, while some of his decisions as captain have also been questionable. His poor form has coincided with MI’s poor run of form, with the five-time champions winning only three of their first eight encounters.
Mumbai are almost in a position where they can’t afford any more losses. A couple more defeats and their fate would no longer be in their hands. They are now up against Delhi Capitals who are starting to gain a bit of momentum, having won three of their last four matches. A win against MI on April 27 (Saturday) would push them to the top half of the points table.
DC vs MI Head-to-Head
Overall - Games 34 | DC 15 | MI 19
In Delhi - Games 11 | DC 6 | MI 5
Venue details
The Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi hosted its first game of the season on April 24 and it turned out to be a high-scoring affair. Batting first, the Capitals amassed 224/4 in their 20 overs and still won by only four runs. In response, Gujarat Titans got to 220 in 20 overs. Both pacers (12.2) and spinners (10.9) went at more than 10 runs per over.
Weather forecast
It’s going to be hot in Delhi. The temperature is expected to be around 36-38 degrees Celsius, and the humidity will be 15-25%.
Things to watch out for
DC seamers keep leaking runs
The Capitals’ pace unit has the worst economy rate (11.1) and balls/boundary (3.6) in this year’s IPL. That’s not it, they also have the second-worst average (34.4). Anrich Nortje (economy 13.4) has been one of the worst bowlers this year and at this point, it won’t be a bad idea for Delhi to bring in one of Jhye Richardson or Lizaad Williams. The likes of Rasikh Salam (12.9) and Mukesh Kumar (10.4) have also leaked a lot of runs.
Khaleel Ahmed started well, picking up 10 wickets in the first seven matches at an economy of 8.2, but has gone wicketless in the last two matches and conceded runs at 15.4 runs/over. Delhi’s premier spinners, Kuldeep Yadav and Axar Patel, have been economical, but they will need some support against Mumbai, who are one of the better batting units against pace bowling.
Tilak flying under the radar
Not too many people are talking about Tilak Varma but the 21-year-old has been one of MI’s most consistent batters. Tilak, who smacked 65 off 44 in the last game against Rajasthan, has five 30-plus scores in this edition.
Only two other batters have scored more runs than Tilak (203 runs @ 50.75 and an SR of 157.4) in the middle overs, but their strike rates are nowhere close to 150. The left-hander has just one single-digit score in this season but it did come against DC.
Probable XIs
DC - Prithvi Shaw (IP), Jake Fraser-McGurk, Abishek Porel, Shai Hope, Rishabh Pant (c & wk), Tristan Stubbs, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Jhye Richardson/Lizaad Williams, Khaleel Ahmed, Mukesh Kumar, Rasikh Dar Salam (IP)
MI - Ishan Kishan (wk), Rohit Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya (c), Tim David, Nehal Wadhera (IP), Mohammad Nabi, Gerald Coetzee, Piyush Chawla, Jasprit Bumrah, Nuwan Thushara (IP)
Telecast and streaming details
The match will be live on Star Sports Network and live-streamed on Jio Cinema. The game will start at 3:30 PM, with the toss happening at 3 PM.
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