What

The Delhi Capitals will be eyeing a fourth consecutive win when they take the field in Match 34 of VIVO IPL 2019. Up against them as a challenge are not only their opponents Mumbai Indians, but also the conditions at their home ground.

The Delhi Capitals, who have 5 wins from eight matches, have a solitary win from their three home matches this season. Shreyas Iyer and company have struggled to cope with the slow surfaces that have been dished out and will hope the curator will give them a better surface than he did two weeks ago.

The Mumbai Indians too have 5 wins from eight matches; in their most-recent outing, they clinched a thriller against Royal Challengers Bangalore. Things have started to fall in place for MI, and they will now focus on finetuning the small things. The one instruction coach Mahela Jayawardene would have passed on to his lads is for the set batsmen to carry on and bat as deep as possible; time and again, it his come down to the middle-order to provide impetus at the end or to finish the run-chase.

With the logjam in the middle of the table, the points available in this match could serve both teams well. The Delhi Capitals have consecutive matches at home, and four points from those games will nearly confirm a playoff berth, while the more points MI gather from their four back-to-back away matches, it will put them in a good position when they return home and play two matches to wind up the league season.

When

18 April 2019, 8pm IST

Where

Feroze Shah Kotla Ground, Delhi

Previous Match XIs:

Delhi Capitals: Prithvi Shaw, Shikhar Dhawan, Colin Munro, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant, Chris Morris, Axar Patel, Keemo Paul, Kagiso Rabada, Amit Mishra, Ishant Sharma.

Mumbai Indians: Quinton de Kock, Rohit Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav, Ishan Kishan, Krunal Pandya, Hardik Pandya, Kieron Pollard, Rahul Chahar, Jason Behrendorff, Lasith Malinga, Jasprit Bumrah.

Protagonists

Given that the young guns in the Delhi Capitals – Prithvi Shaw and Rishabh Pant – have been a hit and miss, the onus falls on the shoulders of the experienced players – Shikhar Dhawan, Shreyas Iyer and Colin Munro – to score the bulk of the runs. Expect Munro, who scored a quickfire 40 in the win against Sunrisers Hyderabad, to retain his place in the XI.

The spotlight will be on Shaw, who, in seven innings other than his knock of 99, has scored only 88 runs. Coach Ricky Ponting has been very vocal in support for the young batsmen in his team. How long though will it be before the Delhi Capitals start expecting reasonable returns from the opener?

Mumbai Indians will expect Rohit Sharma and Quinton de Kock to set the pace early; it will be ideal if one of them goes on to get a big score. MI have plenty of firepower in the middle order, and Rohit and de Kock will be expected to lay a platform from which the likes of Hardik Pandya and Kieron Pollard can launch.

On the bowling front, expect the Purple Capital holder Kagiso Rabada to add to his tally. Jasprit Bumrah has hit his straps in the last few matches and he will be keen to rectify his poor record at the Feroze Shah Kotla; the MI pacer has an economy rate of 10.63 in the five IPL matches he has played at the venue.

Head to Head in Indian Premier League

Overall: Matches – 23, Delhi Capitals – 12, Mumbai Indians – 11.

In Delhi since 2012: Matches – 6, Delhi Capitals – 5, Mumbai Indians – 1.

Trivia

The Mumbai Indians captain Rohit Sharma has won only 2 tosses in 7 matches this season.

Mumbai Indians have the best scoring rate in the last four overs this season – 12.42. The Delhi Capitals, on the other hand, have the lowest scoring rate (8.79) and have lost the most wickets (25) in that period.

The Delhi Capitals are the only team who have not realised a 50-run opening partnership in VIVO IPL 2019. DC’s highest opening stand this season is 36.