In the 43rd match of the 2024 Indian Premier League season, Rishabh Pant’s Delhi Capitals face off against the five-time IPL champion Mumbai Indians at the Arun Jaitley Stadium on Saturday at 3:30 pm IST.
MI is positioned 8th in the points table courtesy of 3 wins in 8 matches with the team failing to find cohesion despite Jasprit Bumrah’s outstanding form. DC, currently 6th in the points table, has won 4 out of 9 matches but struggled with their bowling, conceding totals above 230 runs thrice already this season.
What has happened so far?
In IPL 2024, the Capitals started inconsistently, winning only one of their first five matches. However, they bounced back with two consecutive wins before suffering a heavy defeat of 67 runs against the Sunrisers Hyderabad.
In their latest match against the Gujarat Titans, the Capitals clinched a crucial victory by 4 runs in a high-scoring thriller, with the skipper and Axar Patel forming a vital partnership of
113 off 68 balls to put up a massive target of 225 for GT. In reply, DC’s bowlers held their nerves in the crucial moment to get the team over the line.
Meanwhile, MI struggled initially, losing three consecutive games, but then turned things around and won three out of their next five matches.
However, they faced a significant setback in their last game against the Rajasthan Royals, suffering a nine-wicket defeat as only Tilak Varma and Nehal Wadhera made notable contributions with the bat. Yashasvi Jaiswal’s century led the Royals to victory, leaving MI striving to regain momentum in their quest for a playoff spot.
Head to Head Record
There have been 34 games played between these two teams in the IPL thus far, with the DC winning 15 of them and the MI winning the rest of the 19 games.
On home soil, the Capitals hold a slight advantage over their opponents, as DC has won six of their eleven encounters in Delhi, while MI has been able to win five of those encounters.
The Capitals’ encounter with MI earlier this season resulted in a 25-run victory for MI. In the match played at Wankhede Stadium, MI’s batsmen put up a show with the bat, and MI posted a mammoth total of 234 runs on the board.
In reply, an 88-run partnership between Prithvi Shaw and Abhishek Porel off 49 balls kept DC in the game, and Tristan Stubbs’ blistering unbeaten knock of 71 runs off just 25 balls almost did the job for the DC but he couldn’t get support from the other batters and they lost the game.
Key Players
Rohit Sharma (Mumbai Indians): Rohit Sharma, the former captain of MI, is in good form in the 2024 IPL so far after amassing 303 runs with an impressive strike rate of 162.90 in 8 matches. His notable innings included a century against CSK, albeit losing the match.
Rohit has scored 371 runs with a strike rate of 141.6 in the 11 matches he has played against DC at Arun Jaitley Stadium and would be looking to get some runs against DC after getting out early in the last game against RR.
Rishabh Pant made an incredible comeback after being away from the game due to injury
Rishabh Pant (Delhi Capitals): Rishabh Pant has made an incredible comeback after a horrific car accident and currently holds the third position in the top run-getters list.
The captain is leading from the front as he has scored 342 runs in nine innings at a strike rate of 161.32 and an average of 48.86. In their most recent game against GT when DC found themselves in a struggling position, Pant scored 88 runs off 43 balls and would take the spotlight once again on Saturday.
Team News from Both Camps
In addition to Mitchell Marsh’s absence, DC was also without Ishant Sharma for the prior game due to a back spasm that occurred shortly before the start.
Ishant was at training on Tuesday, running for a bit and passing the medicine ball about. Currently, the evaluation is ongoing, and a decision on his involvement will be made closer to the game.
MI does not have any injury concerns at the moment. They made 3 changes bringing in Nehal Wadhera, Nuwan Thushara, and Piyush Chawla in the last game and they would like to maintain the same team combination.
Predicted XIs
Delhi Capitals: Prithvi Shaw, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Abishek Porel, Shai Hope, Rishabh Pant © (wk), Tristan Stubbs, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Anrich Nortje, Khaleel Ahmed, Mukesh Kumar
Mumbai Indians: Ishan Kishan (wk), Rohit Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Varma, Nehal Wadhera, Hardik Pandya ©, Tim David, Mohammad Nabi, Gerald Coetzee, Jasprit Bumrah, Nuwan Thushara
Prediction
MI will be looking to turn things around after the loss against RR in the last match, while DC will be trying to keep the momentum going.
MI has the upper hand in the head-to-head clash but the hosts have a slightly better record against them playing at their home ground. All things considered, a great game of cricket is expected on Saturday.