The second half of the Sunday double header of action in the Indian Premier League sees the top two in the table meeting when the defending champions Mumbai Indians take on the Delhi Capitals at Abu Dhabi.
The Capitals go into this match two points above the Indians and can exit the weekend with a commanding four point lead at the top and six points ahead of fifth in the race for the play-offs with a win. Mumbai keep themselves very much in the hunt should they come out victorious.
Mumbai Indians
With four wins from their opening six matches, the Mumbai Indians head into this match in great form. They should really have won their last five outings because they got into a winning position in the game they lost to the Royal Challengers Bangalore and then made a mess of the ending and the Super Over. They have bounced back from that though and are looking very strong at the minute, winning their last three matches by 48 runs, 34 runs and 57 runs.
You don’t win matches by those matches if both the batting and the bowling isn’t delivering the goods and that is exactly what is happening here. Their batsmen haven’t scored less than 190 since the opening match when rust was a genuine excuse after six months without cricket and only twice in that time have they conceded more than 150 and one of those was in Sharjah where the 174/7 they restricted Sunrisers to was well below par for that ground. The champions are trending nicely.
Delhi Capitals
There has been no better team in the competition so far though than the Delhi Capitals and that is highlighted in the league table where the team coached by Ricky Ponting sit on top of the pile. It won’t be lost on them or their opponents here that the only match they have lost was when they were asked to chase, something which is the case with Mumbai in their last five matches as well, so it might be that the toss is pretty crucial in this match.
The big reason behind their success has been their death bowling. There are plenty of teams in this tournament that have been searching for death bowling but the Delhi Capitals aren’t one of them. They have the best economy rate in overs 16-20 and one of the reasons for that is they have the best spin attack in the competition as well. When you throw in a top six who have all got runs at one stage or another you have an incredibly strong looking side.
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Key Men
Kieron Pollard could be a big player for the Mumbai Indians here. There is a sense that the match will hinge on who wins the battle at the death of the Mumbai batting innings and few do it better than Kieron Pollard, but if he comes in earlier he could hit the spinners off their rhythm and change the plans for the Capitals in the field.
Kagiso Rabada is the leading wicket taker in the tournament at the minute so it is obvious that he is a key man for the Delhi Capitals but he really is here because Mumbai have the best scoring rate in the league at the death so if he can keep Pollard and Pandya quiet it will go a long way to winning the match.
Betting
This is a fascinating match up and it should be the game of the tournament so far. You can make a case for either side in this match so you are betting on what you prefer – the better hitting at the death or the better death bowling. I’ve always been an advocate of the bowlers in this format and I’ll continue to be here. It isn’t like the Delhi Capitals don’t have players to can smack it at the death anyway.
Although it hasn’t shown yet in the tournament I just worry about this Mumbai Indians middle order. We are starting to see a few creaks in it with Ishan Kishan having not done a huge amount since that 99 a few games ago and if Kieron Pollard wasn’t to deliver the Indians could be found short with the bat. That doesn’t feel like being the case with Delhi who have players in form throughout their order. There is one or two hittable bowlers in the Mumbai ranks too which you don’t get out of the Delhi one. Throw in that Delhi are odds against in a closely matched encounter and the value is with them.
Tips
Back Delhi Capitals to beat Mumbai Indians for a 3/10 stake at 2.10 with Coral
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