The Delhi Capitals take on the Mumbai Indians in the first qualifier of the 2020 IPL season at the Dubai International cricket stadium. Delhi Capitals finished 2nd in the points table with 16 points just below Mumbai Indians who had secured 18 points at the end of the group stages. Mumbai Indians will walk into this match after suffering a pounding defeat against Sunrisers Hyderabad in their last match of the season.
Whereas Delhi Capitals after losing four on the troth secured a win in their final league game against Royal Challengers Bangalore. Both sides are likely to make a couple of changes to their side, with the likes of Jasprit Bumrah, Trent Boult and Hardik Pandya expected to return to the side. There is an injury concern in form of Rohit Sharma but since he played the last match against Sunrisers Hyderabad it does look like he’s likely to play in the qualifier 1.
Delhi Capitals, on the other hand, might just want to bring back Shimron Hetymer into the side at the expense of Daniel Sams. Other than this one change, they’re unlikely to make any changes to the side as they’d want to continue with the winning combination from their previous game.
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Let’s take a look at the five key players to watch out for when Mumbai Indians lock horns with Delhi Capitals at Dubai International Cricket Stadium:
1. Suryakumar Yadav
Surya Kumar Yadav scoring runs in the end stages of the tournament has been the key to Mumbai Indians performing exceptionally well. In the absence of Rohit Sharma in the side, Surya Kumar took the responsibility on his shoulder helping Mumbai edge out of early collapses.
The Mumbai batsmen has looked in fine form this season which is why we have to close eye on the latter as he’s not far away from receiving an India call up very soon for the limited-overs side.
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2. Ajinkya Rahane
India’s vice-captain of the Test side hasnt really got that many opportunities to showcase his calibre in the tournament. Youngster Prithvi Shaw was picked ahead of the experienced Rahane at the start of the tournament after which he was provided with a couple of opportunities as an opener where he failed to capitalize.
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But in the match against Royal Challengers Bangalore which was a very important game for the Delhi Capitals side, Rahane came out strong as he notched up a 60 run knock of just 46 deliveries.
3. Trent Boult
The NZ pacer brings in the pace with death overs specialist Jasprit Bumrah, making Mumbai Indians’ pace bowling extremely strong this season. The speedster has picked up 20 wickets in 13 matches at a strike rate of 15.40.
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Boult is one of the leading wicket-taker for Mumbai Indians this season and might as well be of the strong Purple-Cap contenders for the tournament. Mumbai Indians skippers Rohit Sharma and Kieron Pollard have effectively used Boult in the Powerplay along with James Pattinson and Jasprit Bumrah as he’s been overly successful this season.
4. Anrich Nortje
Anrich Nortje the Fast bowler from South Africa has been one of the revelations for the Delhi Capitals this season. Nortje came in as a replacement for Chris Woakes which many say was a blessing in disguise for the Delhi Capitals side as Nortje has so far picked 19 wickets in 13 matches for the Shreyas Iyer led franchise.
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He has bowled in tandem alongside Kagiso Rabada in the powerplay and has been exceptional for a fact that he’s picked up wickets when they were most needed for the franchise. In the match against Rajasthan Royals, Anrich Nortje bowled the fastest ball in the history of the IPL as he clocked 155 kph.
5. Shikhar Dhawan
The opening batter has looked in phenomenal touch this season for the Delhi Capitals as he’s been their leading run-scorer of the season. Dhawan had scored two back to back centuries this season before following it up with two back to back ducks.
If Delhi Capitals want to avenge the Mumbai Indians in the first qualifier, Dhawan should be the man who should take the responsibility upfront of batting through the majority of the inning, helping other batsmen like Rishabh Pant and Marcus Stoinis to capitalize in the end.
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