It would be a battle for the top spot in the IPL table as the two most consistent sides of the tournament - Delhi Capitals and Mumbai Indians, meet in Abu Dhabi.
The two most consistent teams of the tournament so far clash in the evening match on Sunday, as table-toppers Delhi Capitals meet Rohit Sharma's Mumbai Indians in Abu Dhabi. While the Capitals are the first to ten points in the tournament, the MI will be aiming to displace them at the top of the table.
Delhi Capitals registered a resounding victory over the Rajasthan Royals on Friday night, outclassing them in all departments to secure a 46-run win.
The fireworks from Delhi Capitals' lower-middle order was perhaps the biggest positive from the game against Royals. Throughout the tournament, the top-order had been consistent with its performances for DC, but the batsmen lower down the order stepped up against RR after top-4 failed to get runs for the side.
Shimron Hetmyer (45) returned to run-scoring in style in the game, while the likes of Axar Patel and Harshal Patel also made handy contributions.
In a way, young Prithvi Shaw and the in-form Rishabh Pant will face their first stiff test when they face Bumrah and Boult, who can trouble any batsman with their pace and accuracy.
Capitals' skipper Shreyas Iyer has been very impressive so far both as a batsman and as the leader of the pack. It will be interesting to see how he uses his resources against his in-form counterpart Rohit Sharma and his smashing middle-order due of Hardik Pandya and Kieron Pollard.
If at all one team has a slight upper hand in any department, however, it's the experience in Mumbai Indians' pace bowling arsenal.
Both Jasprit Bumrah and Trent Boult, with years of experience behind them, could be the difference in the most sought-after contest of this edition.
Rohit Sharma is slowly finding his groove while Suryakumar Yadav returned to run-scoring too, after throwing away bright starts in the first few matches. Kieron Pollard and Hardik Pandya remain one of the most dangerous duo to close the innings.
At the big Abu Dhabi ground, a score in the vicinity of 170 is normally par for any other side in the IPL, but for Mumbai Indians and Delhi Capitals, even 200 may not appear safe.
Teams (from):
Delhi Capitals: Shreyas Iyer (c), Ravichandran Ashwin, Shikhar Dhawan, Prithvi Shaw, Shimron Hetmyer, Kagiso Rabada, Ajinkya Rahane, Amit Mishra, Rishabh Pant (wk), Ishant Sharma, Axar Patel, Sandeep Lamichhane, Keemo Paul, Daniel Sams, Mohit Sharma, Anrich Nortje, Alex Carey (wk), Avesh Khan, Tushar Deshpande, Harshal Patel, Marcus Stoinis, Lalit Yadav.
Mumbai Indians: Rohit Sharma (c), Aditya Tare, Anmolpreet Singh, Anukul Roy, Chris Lynn, Dhawal Kulkarni, Digvijay Deshmukh, Hardik Pandya, Ishan Kishan, James Pattison, Jasprit Bumrah, Jayant Yadav, Kieron Pollard, Krunal Pandya, Mitchell McClenaghan, Mohsin Khan, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Prince Balwant Rai, Quinton De Kock, Rahul Chahar, Saurabh Tiwary, Sherfane Rutherford, Suryakumar Yadav, Trent Boult.
