Big picture: MI’s dominance over DC
Both teams are coming off wins in their opening games, but on Saturday afternoon, only one will go home with two points. Unless rain spoils the party.
Key question
Team news: Santner joins MI squad
DC are likely to stick to the same side. The only change could be around their impact player. Depending on the match situation, they can pick either Sameer Rizvi or Ashutosh Sharma.
Delhi Capitals (probable): 1 KL Rahul (wk), 2 Pathum Nissanka, 3 Nitish Rana, 4 Axar Patel (capt), 5 David Miller, 6 Tristan Stubbs, 7 Sameer Rizvi/Ashutosh Sharma, 8 Vipraj Nigam, 9 Kuldeep Yadav, 10 Lungi Ngidi, 11 Mukesh Kumar, 12 T Natarajan
Mumbai Indians (probable): 1 Rohit Sharma, 2 Ryan Rickelton (wk), 3 Tilak Varma, 4 Suryakumar Yadav, 5 Hardik Pandya (capt), 6 Naman Dhir, 7 Sherfane Rutherford, 8 Mitchell Santner, 9 Shardul Thakur, 10 Jasprit Bumrah, 11 Mayank Markande, 12 Trent Boult
In the spotlight: Lungi Ngidi and Jasprit Bumrah
Stats and trivia: Bumrah vs DC batters
- KL Rahul has a strike rate of 150.53 (140 runs off 90 balls, three dismissals) against Trent Boult in T20s.
- Rohit Sharma has struggled to score freely against Axar Patel in the IPL. He has a strike rate of 91.30 against him (63 runs off 69 balls) with three dismissals.
- Bumrah has kept each of Miller, Tristan Stubbs and Axar quiet in T20s. Miller has a strike rate of 117.30 against him, Stubbs 69.56 and Axar 101.92.
- Among those who have bowled at least ten overs at the death in T20s this year, Ngidi’s economy rate of 6.84 is the second best after Mustafizur Rahman’s 6.22.
Pitch and conditions
Next three fixtures
Delhi Capitals
Apr 8: vs Gujarat Titans, Delhi
Apr 11: vs Chennai Super Kings, Chennai
Apr 18: vs Royal Challengers Bengaluru, Bengaluru
Mumbai Indians
Apr 7: Rajasthan Royals, Guwahati
Apr 12: Royal Challengers Bengaluru, Wankhede
Apr 16: Punjab Kings, Wankhede
Quotes
“It’s very important for spinners to stick to their strengths. When the batsman puts you under pressure, you sometimes go away from your strengths and search for a safer option to get out of that situation. I feel it’s best for me to focus on my strengths, while understanding the batsman’s strengths, how he plays, what the situation is at that time, and bowl according to that. And always read batters – what is he expecting from you? Basically, always try to stay one step ahead, predict what he’s trying to do, and bowl accordingly. But if your strength is being an attacking spinner, don’t let that go, because that’s your identity, and if you’re trying to get wickets for your team, there can’t be a better thing than that, and that’s what the team also expects from you. Sometimes it happens, sometimes it doesn’t, but your mindset needs to remain attacking.”
Kuldeep Yadav on how spinners can hold their own in high-scoring T20s
“Quinny [Quinton de Kock] is not upset or anything that he is not playing. He is part of a structure. And we felt Ryan [Rickelton] was batting really well, and we didn’t want to change something when it’s not broken. So it was an easy decision for us to start with Ryan and have that continuity and back our players to the hilt.”
MI head coach Mahela Jayawardene on picking between Rickelton and de Kock
Hemant Brar is a sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo
