Match 25: Mumbai Indians vs Delhi Daredevils
Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai (Capacity: 33,000)
Saturday, April 22th
20:00 hours IST
Team Form:
MI: L (RPS) W (KKR) W (SRH) W (RCB) W (GL) W (KXIP)
DD: L (RCB) W (RPS) W (KXIP) L (KKR) L (SRH)
Team News:
Mumbai could not have asked for a better start to their IPL campaign. After a defeat in their first match, they have won five on the trot. They have surely become the team to beat, having all their departments covered. The little dynamo Parthiv proved his worth in the previous match when he gave the team a flying start alongside the swashbuckling Buttler. Nitish Rana has been the find of IPL 2017 and no one is underestimating this young talent. Rohit Sharma’s form which has been scratchy has not come under the scanner as his team has produced the desired results. Pollard has walked into difficult situations and looks solid. The Pandya brothers’ match winning ability is such that each of them can turn a match on its head by exemplary performance in either batting or bowling or even both. The bowling is very potent with Bhajji, Bumrah and McClenaghan. Johnson could get a look in ahead of the underperforming Malinga.
Delhi, on the other hand are coming at the back of a loss at the hands of the Sunrisers Hyderabad. Their batting is dependent on young Indian talent that comprises of Karun Nair, Samson, Tare and Rishabh Pant. All-rounders Morris and Anderson shall find a place in the playing XI. Morris has been instrumental with ball in hand. Rabada, Cummins and captain Zaheer shall round off what can be termed as a decent bowling attack which also constitutes the X factor of Amit Mishra.
Ideal Playing XI:
Mumbai Indians: Parthiv Patel (wk), Jos Buttler, Nitish Rana, Rohit Sharma ©, Kieron Pollard, Krunal Pandya, Hardik Pandya, Harbhajan Singh, Mitchell McCleneghan, Mitchell Johnson, Jasprit Bumrah
Delhi Daredevils: Sanju Samson, Aditya Tare, Karun Nair, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant (wk), Corey Anderson, Chris Morris, Kagiso Rabada, Pat Cummins, Zaheer Khan ©, Amit Mishra
Pitch and Weather report: The temperature shall be in the early 30’s degrees of Celsius. Humidity can be expected to be as high as 77%. The pitch at the Wankhede always gives equal shares of opportunities to batsmen and bowlers to show their mettle and a similar track can be expected.
Match prediction: The way Mumbai have outplayed opponents and won matches in an emphatic manner, Zaheer Khan will have to pull a rabbit out of his hat to pull this one off against the home team.