File photo of DC skipper Shreyas Iyer and MI wicket-keeper Quinton de Kock.
Table toppers Mumbai Indians and second-placed Delhi Capitals will lock horns for the first time in Qualifier 1 stage in Dubai International Stadium on Thursday.
Both the outfits stamped their authorities quite early in the IPL 2020 with string of victories. They did face some impediments at the fag end of the season with DC saw their lead over the rest of the field shrink to nothing while churning out a qualification only in their last game of the season.
After their decisive win against Royal Challengers Bangalore on Monday, team’s Shreyas Iyer was bullish of their chances against mighty MI but the latter’s statistics in the play-offs suggest MI are a different animal post the group stages.
Since 2015, the four-time champions played in the Qualifier 1 thrice, winning two of them while losing once. Last year, the Rohit Sharma-led side defeated nemesis Chennai Super Kings in a resounding win with the help of Suryakumar Yadav’s 71 in front of CSK’s home crowd in Chennai.
Back in 2017, the team lost by 20 runs to now defunct Rising Pune Supergiant while chasing. The team did manage to win Qualifier 2 against Kolkata Knight Riders to eventually lift the trophy in final against MS Dhoni-led RPS.
In 2015, however, Rohit and Co. kept things simple with a comfortable win against CSK in the Qualifier 1 and then repeated the same in the Final. The team also played in Qualfier 1 in 2013, losing out to CSK but the side made comeback through victory Q2 to clinch maiden title in marquee clash vs CSK.
MI has also played in eliminators thrice (2011, 2012 and 2014), winning twice while perishing in 2014.
The Mumbai-based franchise’s play-off experiences certainly dwarf that of Delhi Capitals, who have featured in the play-off stages twice. The team played in the Eliminator last year while going out at qualifier 2 stage to CSK.
Prior to that, the side reached in play-offs in 2012 as defunct Delhi Daredevils, getting knocked out in the Qualifiers 2 by CSK after seeing off KKR in the eliminators.
