IPL 2019 DC vs MI: Delhi Capitals braces for Mumbai Indians' challenge

Delhi Capitals will hope not to misfire once again at the Feroz Shah Kotla — where it takes on Mumbai Indians — after having ensured three wins in a row away from home to resurrect its campaign.

Published : Apr 17, 2019 20:55 IST , New Delhi

The likely low and slow pitch at the Feroz Shah Kotla will challenge Mumbai Indians when it goes up against the Delhi Capitals on Thursday.
The likely low and slow pitch at the Feroz Shah Kotla will challenge Mumbai Indians when it goes up against the Delhi Capitals on Thursday.
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The likely low and slow pitch at the Feroz Shah Kotla will challenge Mumbai Indians when it goes up against the Delhi Capitals on Thursday.

Delhi Capitals is back home for its Indian Premier League (IPL) contest against Mumbai Indians but it remains to be seen whether it maintains the sparkling ‘away’ form.

It has lost two out of three matches here, the latest a five-wicket drubbing by Sunrisers Hyderabad after which head coach Ricky Ponting slammed the pitch for being the “worst” they have played on.

This time, Delhi seems reasonably confident of what it can expect. A run-fest is understood to be not on the cards; Ponting, on Wednesday, looking ahead to the upcoming contest, said: “We expect [the pitch] is going to be quite slow and quite low and probably turn a little bit. We’re well prepared with that. I think the last wicket probably caught us a little bit off-guard. We thought it was going to play a bit better than it did last time. But at the end of the day, the wicket is what it is. Both teams have to play on it, and hopefully we can play better on this one and get over the line.”

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After having garnered three much-needed wins that have brought its campaign back on track, Capitals will be especially buoyed about Shikhar Dhawan; after a scratchy start this season, he displayed his prowess against Kolkata Knight Riders last week, scoring an unbeaten 97 to lift his side to a convincing win. Fast bowler Kagiso Rabada lends teeth to the bowling attack; he is currently the leading wicket-taker in the league, with 17 wickets. Four of those wickets were claimed in the last contest against Sunrisers; it was a combined bowling performance, with Chris Morris and Keemo Paul chipping in with three wickets each to raze the opposition.

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Delhi Capitals advisor Sourav Ganguly, Shikhar Dhawan and Prithvi Shaw at the nets on Thursday.
 

 

 

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Shreyas Iyer.
 

The attention will also be on Rishabh Pant, who was left out of the Indian squad for the World Cup earlier this week. In the first week of the tourney, Pant lit up the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai with his unbeaten 78 off 27 deliveries; a match-winning effort. Against the same opposition, and with the distraction of the World Cup dispensed with, can he promptly display his wares once again?

Mumbai Indians, meanwhile, will pin its hopes on Quinton de Kock, who has enjoyed a fruitful season so far. The wicketkeeper-batsman has got starts in most of the contests so far, and has two half-centuries — including a knock of 81 against Rajasthan Royals.

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The seasoned Lasith Malinga will be a threat with the ball, especially after the match-winning haul of 4 for 31 in the last contest against Royal Challengers Bangalore.

 

Mumbai Indians has won five out of eight matches. But unlike Delhi, it doesn’t arrive here with a winning run, having lost to Royals last week. The likely low and slow pitch at the Feroz Shah Kotla will also challenge the side.

Squads

Delhi Capitals: Shreyas Iyer (c), Colin Munro, Prithvi Shaw, Shikhar Dhawan, Hanuma Vihari, Colin Ingram, Manjot Kalra, Chris Morris, Sherfane Rutherford, Keemo Paul, Axar Patel, Jalaj Saxena, Rahul Tewatia, Rishabh Pant, Ankush Bains, Sandeep Lamichhane, Avesh Khan, Harshal Patel, Trent Boult, Amit Mishra, Kagiso Rabada, Ishant Sharma, Nathu Singh and Bandaru Ayyappa.

Mumbai Indians: Rohit Sharma (c), Anmolpreet Singh, Jason Behrendorff, Jasprit Bumrah, Rahul Chahar, Ben Cutting, Quinton de Kock, Ishan Kishan, Pankaj Jaswal, Alzarri Joseph, Siddhesh Lad, Ewin Lewis, Mitchell McClenaghan, Lasith Malinga, Mayank Markande, Hardik Pandya, Krunal Pandya, Kieron Pollard, Rasikh Salam, Anukul Roy, Barinder Sran, Aditya Tare, Jayant Yadav, Suryakumar Yadav, Yuvraj Singh

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