What

Match 21 of Pepsi IPL 2015 will feature the Delhi Daredevils clashing with a resurgent Mumbai Indians.

DD won two matches on the bounce before they were comprehensively outclassed by the Kolkata Knight Riders in their previous outing. The team will have realised from looking back at the match that at no stage of their innings did they have any kind of momentum, which is such an important element in the T20 format. Several batsmen got starts and were involved in partnerships; but just when the partnership was blossoming the set batsman was dismissed robbing the team of momentum. They have two wins from five matches and will be aware the time has come for them to start putting together a series of wins.

MI, who started the season with four defeats in a row, announced themselves with a resounding 18-run victory over Royal Challengers Bangalore. It was a near-perfect performance from MI in that match. The openers set the platform, the middle order capitalised and the bowlers kept striking consistently to deprive their opponents of any momentum.

When

23 April 2015, 8p.m. IST

Where

Ferozeshah Kotla Stadium, Delhi

The Protagonists

In the previous match against KKR, DD struggled mainly because there was no sustained momentum in the innings and that was because of losing wickets at regular intervals. The team has possibly taken lessons from that outing and will want one of opener Shreyas Iyer or skipper JP Duminy to bat through the innings. Duminy has the ability to adapt; he can drop anchor early on, but is an equally dangerous striker too. Given his experience and reputation, Yuvraj Singh is another important cog in the DD setup; the 33-year old has been getting starts – with scores of 9, 27, 55, 9 & 21 this season – and needs to start making them match-winning fifties regularly.

The MI captain Rohit Sharma is very much a rhythm player; there can be times when he will have one poor outing after another. But there are other times – like now – when he can bat like in a dream. There has never been any question about the 27-year old’s talent; some of the shots he has played this season have left spectators spellbound – take the extra cover drive six or the whip shot from outside the off stump that deposited the ball outside the midwicket boundary. In times like these, Rohit can be a very dangerous player, and DD better watch out for him.

Contests to look-forward to

The Delhi Daredevils’ leg-spin duo against Mumbai Indians’ Rohit Sharma promises to make for good viewing. The MI captain has hit a purple patch, and in the two leg-spinners he will face bowlers who have made life difficult for batsmen up until now.

MI’s Harbhajan Singh bowling to DD’s Yuvraj Singh also promises to make for an entertaining contest. The two players have grown up with each other – playing for Punjab and later India, must have faced each other a zillion times in the nets, and surely know what’s running through the other’s mind.

Previous Meetings

The head-to-head between the Delhi Daredevils and Mumbai Indians reads seven wins apiece for both teams. The results have been shared that way in the past two seasons, with both teams winning one match apiece.

In the first meeting in Sharjah last season, the Delhi Daredevils restricted MI to 125 for 6 and chased it down with more than an over to spare. In the return fixture in Mumbai, MI posted a challenging 173 runs on the board riding on a 87-run partnership between their opening pair of Lendl Simmons and Michael Hussey, and then restricted DD to 158 for 4 to win by 15 runs.

Trivia

The Delhi Daredevils have lost the last 9 IPL matches at the Ferozeshah Kotla Stadium. Their overall win-loss record at the venue is 14 – 26.

Lasith Malinga’s best bowling performance in the IPL - 5 for 13 – was against the Delhi Daredevils.

The Mumbai Indians are the only team to post three century partnerships in Pepsi IPL 2015.

What Next

Delhi Daredevils’ next outing will be a home fixture against the Royal Challengers Bangalore on April 26. The Mumbai Indians will take the park for the second time in three days when they play host to the Sunrisers Hyderabad on April 25.