Delhi Capitals (DC) skipper Axar Patel won the toss and opted to bowl first against Mumbai Indians (MI) in an IPL match at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in New Delhi. The decision was in line perfectly with MI’s brief as always stand-in captain Suryakumar Yadav said his side also wanted to perform the role of bat first and it made toss “irrelevant” so far as team strategies were concerned.
The absence of regular skipper Hardik Pandya, who was unwell and missed the match, meant Mumbai Indians were forced into multiple changes. Suryakumar, in his place, came up to lead the side. The team combination saw three vital changes as Deepak Chahar, Corbin Bosch and Mitchell Santner walked into the XI. They came in for Trent Boult and AM Ghazanfar, while the third opening was courtesy Hardik’s unavailability.
On the other hand, Delhi Capitals continued with an unchanged playing XI, displaying trust in their squad. If you get KL Rahul at the top and also have players like David Miller and Kuldeep Yadav who can affect the game in different phases, this is a strong mix of experience and firepower.
The match is on pitch No. 6, a black-soil surface that historically gives assistance to the stroke play. This very pitch saw a high-scoring affair last season when Sunrisers Hyderabad scored 278 for 3 against Kolkata Knight Riders. With short square boundaries 60 and 67 metres long and a straight boundary of 73 metres, the conditions are likely to favour aggressive batting once more.
The Mumbai Indians batting lineup, captained by Rohit Sharma, has the depth to make a great use of such conditions. MI will look to set a stiff target as explosive players such as Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Varma, and Sherfane Rutherford in the middle order gear up in spite of Hardik Pandya missing out.
By opting to bowl first, Delhi Capitals have signalled their intention to make use of any early help for the bowlers while chasing under lights. Kuldeep Yadav, Lungi Ngidi and T Natarajan will be tasked with keeping MI’s explosive batting line-up in check, as they aim to set a defendable target.
With both teams having strong lineups and the pitch promising much in terms of runs, a high-scoring contest can be expected in the capital between these two heavyweights.
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