Eyeing a play-off berth, defending champions Mumbai Indians (MI) will take on Delhi Daredevils (DD) in a must-win game of the Indian Premier League (IPL) at the Ferozshah Kotla here on Sunday.
While Delhi have nothing to lose after being already out of the race for the play-offs, the Rohit Sharma-led side still have a chance to advance to the next stage, which only a win in their last league encounter and better net run-rate (NRR) could gurantee them.
Apart from Mumbai, Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB), Rajasthan Royals (RR) and Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) share 12 points each and with a sole match remaining for them, any of the four could make to the final four.
With the race for the play-offs becoming an interesting scenario, Mumbai will have to register a win with a huge margin to further boost their chance.
After a lacklustre show in the first half of the season, Mumbai finally shifted gears to win four of their last five games, keeping themselves alive in the cash-rich league.
In their last game, Mumbai pipped Punjab by a meagre three-run margin. However, what could be a major relief for the team management would be Keiron Pollard finding his touch back.
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After failing in the previous games, the Caribbean all-rounder blasted a 23-ball 50 to help Mumbai reach a competitive total.
Mumbai's batting mostly relies on opener Suryakumar Yadav, who as amassed 500 runs 13 innings averaging around 38. He has found support from his partner Evin Lewis but, only on few occassions.
Both the openers now carry the responsibility of handing a decent start to Mumbai, either to chase or for putting a good total on board.
However, Mumbai's middle order failed miserably including skipper Rohit.
Barring Rohit's match-winning knock against Bangalore, the Mumbai skipper has failed to live up to the expectations this season, accumulating 334 runs from 12 innings.
The Pandya brothers -- Hardik and Krunal -- will also need to dish out something special if they are to stand any chance of making it to the final four.
In the bowling department, Jasprit Bumrah, Hardik and left-arm pacer Mitchell McClenaghan will have to bowl accurately to get rid of the Delhi batsmen.
Delhi meanwhile, will be aiming to end their IPL 2018 campaign on winning note. The Shreyas Iyer-led side will also be flying high on confidence after thrashing a star-studded Chennai Super Kings by 34 runs here on Friday.
Lying at the bottom of points-table with just eight points in their kitty, even a massive win will not gurantee them a play-off berth.
With the doors already shut for them, Delhi will look to salvage pride and shatter Mumbai's hopes of reaching the next stage.
Delhi, on the other hand, will once again hope to entertain the fans with fireworks from Rishabh Pant, skipper Shreyas Iyer, Prithvi Shaw and Jason Roy.
With nothing to lose, Delhi is expected to test their bench. In such a scenario, the likes of Manjot Kalra, Gurkeerat Singh Mann and Sayan Ghosh may get a look-in.
Delhi's bowling on a flat Kotla wicket was impressive on Friday as the likes of Trent Boult Sandeep Lamichhane, Avesh Khan and Harshal Patel restricted the strong Chennai batting line-up at just 126 runs.
The bowling unit will once again look to continue the momentum for one final time this season.
Squads:
Delhi Daredevils: Shreyas Iyer (captain), Rishabh Pant (wicketkeeper), Glenn Maxwell, Gautam Gambhir, Jason Roy, Colin Munro, Mohammed Shami, Amit Mishra, Prithvi Shaw, Rahul Tewatia, Vijay Shankar, Harshal Patel, Avesh Khan, Shahbaz Nadeem, Daniel Christian, Jayant Yadav, Gurkeerat Singh Mann, Trent Boult, Manjot Kalra, Abhishek Sharma, Sandeep Lamichhane, Naman Ojha, Sayan Ghosh, Liam Plunkett, Junior Dala
Mumbai Indians: Rohit Sharma (captain), Jasprit Bumrah, Hardik Pandya, Kieron Pollard, Mustafizur Rahman, Suryakumar Yadav, Krunal Pandya, Ishan Kishan (wicketkeeper), Rahul Chahar, Evin Lewis, Saurabh Tiwary, Ben Cutting, Pradeep Sangwan, Jean-Paul Duminy, Tajinder Singh, Sharad Lumba, Siddhesh Lad, Aditya Tare, Mayank Markande, Akila Dananjaya, Anukul Roy, Mohsin Khan, MD Nidheesh, Mitchell McClenaghan, Adam Milne
--IANS
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