The Indian Premier League play-offs get underway in Dubai on Thursday when one of the Mumbai Indians or the Delhi Capitals will make it through to the final of the competition while the other one will be made to play a second qualifier over the weekend.
The prize on offer is sure to guarantee a competitive match here and the fact that this is the last time that nobody will exit the tournament when they lose should ensure that we get a decent quality as the first finalist is confirmed.
Mumbai Indians
I don’t think anyone can argue too strongly that the Mumbai Indians haven’t been the best team in the competition this term. The league table tells us they have been but our eyes have also done so, however we have seen time and time again in these franchise tournaments that the regular season doesn’t always count for much when the play-offs come along, and Mumbai do go into this match off the back of a defeat even if they had already qualified and rested one or two key players.
The big thing for the Mumbai Indians this season has been their batting. They have been the best team in the competition with the bat but we are getting into our seventh week of action now and these pitches are naturally going to be tougher to score on. That will bring the bowlers into play but then they have the dew to contend with so there are going to be some concerns there. Ultimately though if the Mumbai batsmen continue to go well then the defending champions will be tough to keep out of the final.
Delhi Capitals
If the season had stopped at the halfway mark the Delhi Capitals would have been perfectly placed to launch a serious bid for the title. They have dropped away in terms of both quality and intensity over the second part of the campaign so it was probably important that they won their last match of the regular season to remember that winning feeling and get them back on track for this contest. It might be that having made a bit of a mess of things recently there is an element of feeling like they have a free shot here, which is exactly what they do have.
The drop off for the Capitals came with the bat and the ball which was a huge concern. Initially it was put down to injuries but a number of key players went missing in the middle of the campaign, not least their bowlers which went around the park for a while. They got back to normal in their last game and all at the Capitals will be hoping that unit come up trumps again here because after a pretty hectic schedule to not have to play another match before a final is a significant bonus on offer.
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Previous Meetings
Mumbai Indians will be going into this match looking for a third straight win over the Delhi Capitals this season having won both their matches to date. They won the first game by five wickets when Delhi posted 162/4 and then dominated the second match after restricting the Capitals to 110/9 before launching into the run chase and winning by nine wickets with almost six overs to spare. Interestingly Delhi batted first in both those matches. It will be interesting to see if the tide flips should Mumbai be enforced to bat first.
Betting
I’m expecting to see a number of runs in this match. Although the pitches are beginning to slow up a little bit that trend doesn’t appear to have made much difference here in Dubai where the last four first innings scores have been 219/2, 172/5, 110/9 and 191/7. It should be said that it isn’t ideal that the 110/9 came in the match between these two sides but the Delhi Capitals were in a bit of disarray at that point and they look a little better after a solid performance last time out.
Although the pitches have been a concern there hasn’t been a match on this ground for four days so this one should be prepared how the curator would want it. There are two matches here in succession and I’m guessing the same pitch will be used for both so it should play pretty well here. Mumbai Indians have been the best batting team in the competition but when they are on it Delhi haven’t been far behind. The runs line for this match sits at 317.5 which I think is a shade on the low side.
Tips
WON – Back Over 317.5 runs for a 3/10 stake at 1.80 with Betway
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