Indian Premier League 2019 Match 3, Mumbai Indians vs Delhi Capitals: Preview, likely XIs, predictions

The Mumbai vs Delhi rivalry of old in Indian domestic cricket has never quite taken off in IPL. Delhi Daredevils – now Capitals – have often finished with the wooden spoon, while Mumbai Indians were the first team to win the IPL thrice. They are still one of two sides to achieve that.

Having said that, the Delhi outfit looks stronger than before. They have acquired Shikhar Dhawan from Sunrisers Hyderabad. They already had an explosive batting line-up consisting of Prithvi Shaw, Rishabh Pant, Shreyas Iyer, and Hanuma Vihari, all Indians. Dhawan’s arrival will provide that with much-needed experience at the top.

This also means that they will have the luxury of picking four overseas bowlers. While they may not opt for it – Amit Mishra and Axar Patel are probably walk-ins – they may still want to toy with the idea of picking all four of Kagiso Rabada, Trent Boult, Chris Morris, and Sandeep Lamichhane.

But despite that, Mumbai will take field as favourites. They have not tampered with their already bowling attack, retaining their five top wicket-takers from last year, the foremost among them being Jasprit Bumrah.

One must remember that four of them – Kieron Pollard, Ben Cutting, and the Pandya brothers – are also prolific hitters.

Head to head

Despite Mumbai’s overall superior result, the sides are evenly matched when it comes to clashes between each other. Both sides have won 11 matches each, an indicator of how Delhi have raised the bar against Mumbai over years.

Key players

Rohit Sharma (Mumbai): The leading run scorers in T20 Internationals at this point, “Hitman” has announced that he will open throughout IPL 2019. This is definitely bad news for bowlers, for the more balls Rohit faces, the more he accelerates.

Shikhar Dhawan (Delhi): Rohit’s opening partner for India in white-ball cricket can get off the blocks quicker than Rohit and make a mockery of field placements, especially in the Powerplay overs. “Gabbar” is the one Delhi will look at for big scores.

Playing XIs

Mumbai Indians: Rohit Sharma (c), Quinton de Kock (wk), Suryakumar Yadav, Yuvraj Singh, Krunal Pandya, Hardik Pandya, Kieron Pollard, Ben Cutting, Mayank Markande, Mitchell McClenaghan, Jasprit Bumrah.

Delhi Capitals: Shikhar Dhawan, Prithvi Shaw, Colin Munro, Rishabh Pant (wk), Shreyas Iyer (c), Hanuma Vihari, Chris Morris, Axar Patel, Amit Mishra, Trent Boult, Kagiso Rabada.

Prediction

Mumbai to win. They look more balanced.