Having recorded three wins in their last four outings, Delhi Capitals will look to continue their march northwards in the Indian Premier League (IPL) points tally when they take on an inconsistent Mumbai Indians at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in the national capital on Saturday.

The Delhi Capitals are fresh from recording a narrow four-run victory over Gujarat Titans, and find themselves at the sixth place in the table. On the other hand, five-time IPL champions Mumbai Indians find themselves at the eighth spot after yet another familiar poor start, and are desperately seeking a way to get their campaign back on track.

Advertisement

The Capitals’ biggest positive has undoubtedly been the form of skipper Rishabh Pant, whose undefeated 88 against the Titans, has certainly brought him as one of the leading contenders for the wicketkeeper-batter’s slot in the T20 World Cup squad despite stiff competition from the likes of KL Rahul, Sanju Samson, Ishan Kishan and Dinesh Karthik.

Delhi’s batting has also been bolstered ever since the introduction of Jack Fraser-McGurk into the line-up, even though they have struggled to extract a consistent performance from the top order. Prithvi Shaw, who has mostly been used as an Impact Sub hasn’t been able to set the stage on fire unlike some of the openers in other franchises, and the injury to David Warner meant DC had to employ a new pair (Shaw and Shai Hope) for the job.

Hope couldn’t capitalise on the opportunity, and with Warner recovering from the niggle, the Aussie might be brought back in the playing XI for Saturday’s contest. Tristan Stubbs has also come good with his big-hitting prowess while Axar Patel also came up with a belligerent 66 when he was elevated up the order against GT.

On the bowling front, Kuldeep Yadav and Axar have delivered the goods for the DC, but their pace unit is still a work-in-progress, as the likes of Anrich Nortje hasn’t still found his form this IPL. The other pacers Khaleel Ahmed, Mukesh Kumar and Ishant Sharma have had their fitness concerns, leading to inconsistent runs.

In their previous meeting in Mumbai, the MI batters had feasted on the DC pace unit, slamming 234 for 5 in another afternoon game at the Wankhede, and the DC team management will be hoping to avoid another carnage on Saturday.

Meanwhile, Mumbai Indians, who arrested their faulty start to IPL 2024 with a timely win against DC earlier in the tournament, will once again hope for a change in fortunes after their campaign has witnessed turbulence. After losing their three opening games, MI bounced back with as many wins in their next four games but a comprehensive nine-wicket thrashing at the hands of Rajasthan Royals was enough to dampen their spirits.

However, the Kotla track would be a perfect strip for the hard-hitting MI line-up to get back to winning ways, as teams have breached 200 thrice in four innings, with the lowest score being 199. For MI, the top order comprising Rohit Sharma, Ishan Kishan, Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Varma, and Tim David have all been among runs, and the team management would expect them to put up another mighty score.

Captain Hardik Pandya’s strike rate, however, remains a concern for MI and the star all-rounder will be hoping to get back his mojo as the T20 World Cup selection gets nearer.

More than their batting, MI will be hoping that their bowling unit performs collectively and supports their lead pacer in Jasprit Bumrah, who has been the standout performer with 13 wickets at an economy rate of 6.37. Gerald Coetzee has been inconsistent in his maiden IPL but still has 12 scalps, and Pandya’s performance with the ball hasn’t been extraordinary so far.