IPL: Mumbai looks to unseat Capitals from top

Be it a potent top-order, a strong middle-order or a lethal bowling attack, there is hardly anything that separates the two sides. If at all one team has a slight upper hand in any department, it is the experience in Mumbai’s pace bowling arsenal.

Both Jasprit Bumrah and Trent Boult, with years of experience behind them, could be the difference in the most sought-after contest of this edition. It means that Shikhar Dhawan will have to strive harder to give Delhi the edge in the powerplay overs. The left-handed batsman has got starts in the last few games, but needs a bigger innings under his belt. In a way, Prithvi Shaw and Rishabh Pant will face their first stiff test when they face Bumrah and Boult, who can trouble batsmen with their pace and accuracy. Shimron Hetmyer got back among the runs against Rajasthan Royals (RR) and that is good news for DC.

He seemed to be the only weak link in Delhi’s ranks, but his six-laden knock against Royals has removed that worry. Shreyas Iyer has been very impressive so far as a batsman and leader of the pack. It will be interesting to see how he uses his resources against his counterpart Rohit Sharma and the MI duo of Hardik Pandya and Kieron Pollard.

The trio can change the complexion of the game within minutes and handling it will be the key. Krunal Pandya, too, is capable of conjuring up cameos that can turn things around for Mumbai. Iyer has the exciting South African pace duo of Kagiso Rabada and Anrich Nortze to do the job. The guile of Ravichandran Ashwin further adds sting to the Capitals attack.

Axar Patel has nicely settled into the side after he replaced the injured Amit Mishra. His all-round ability is another plus for Delhi. At the big Abu Dhabi ground, a score in the vicinity of 170 is normally par for any other side in IPL 2020, but for Mumbai and Delhi, even 200 may not appear safe.