IPL: Can Delhi Capitals halt Mumbai Indians' charge?

A battle royale is in the offing as heavyweights Mumbai Indians and Delhi Capitals clash in a high-profile IPL encounter, in Chennai, on Tuesday.

Up against a resurgent Delhi Capitals, defending champions MI will need to address their middle-order woes as they target their third consecutive win.

While Delhi come into the match full of confidence after beating Punjab Kings by six wickets as they chased down a huge 196 for victory at the Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai Indians have recorded back-to-back victories courtesy of their bowlers by defending a couple of low totals.

Mumbai Indians skipper Rohit Sharma, who has got off to starts, would be keen to convert it into a big one, while his opening partner Quinton de Kock might be itching to play a decisive knock with the bat.

MI have the likes of Suryakumar Yadav, Ishan Kishan, Kieron Pollard, Hardik Pandya and his brother Krunal, who can pummel any attack into submission on their day, but they are yet to fire on all cylinders.

After the last game, Rohit had conceded that his team "can bat a little better in the middle overs."

The Mumbai bowlers, led by pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah, have been splendid in the last two games when they successfully defended low scores of 150 and 152 respectively. Strike bowlers Bumrah (3 wickets) and New Zealander Trent Boult (6 wickets) have been exceptional at the death.

Leg-spinner Rahul Chahar, whom bowling coach Shane Bond described as a "wicket-taking bowler", has grabbed seven wickets in the last two games.

Another important cog in the wheel is left-arm spinner Krunal, who has not only kept the runs down in the middle overs but also chipped in with vital strikes.

Mumbai played Adam Milne in the previous game but considering the nature of the pitch, they could be tempted to bring in off-spinner Jayant Yadav.

Meanwhile, for Delhi Capitals, the biggest positive has been the form of veteran Shikhar Dhawan, who is the leading scorer so far in the tournament with 186 runs.

Dhawan and young Prithvi Shaw form a lethal opening combination, but the young right-hander needs to convert his starts into big scores.

Delhi opted for Australian Steve Smith against Punkab Kings on Sunday but are likely go back to Ajinkya Rahane against MI with the match expected to be played on a slow turner.

Skipper Rishabh Pant has the ability to take any attack to the cleaners. The DC team management would be hoping that the top-order fires in unison against the defending champions, to whom they had lost in the final last year.

DC also possess quality all-rounders in Marcus Stoinis and Lalit Yadav, who played good knocks at the end against Punjab.

Pacers Kagiso Rabada and Chris Woakes have been impressive with the ball, while they have another addition fast bowling option in Anrich Notrje, who has also joined the squad after recovering from COVID-19.

Delhi played four pacers in the game against Punjab, but in Chennai, they could play more spinners as the track is conducive for the slower bowlers.

They have options in the experienced Amit Mishra, Pravin Dubey and new recruit Shams Mulani, who can complement Ravichandran Ashwin.

Teams:

Delhi Capitals: Rishabh Pant (captain), Shikhar Dhawan, Prithvi Shaw, Ajinkya Rahane, Shimron Hetmyer, Marcus Stoinis, Chris Woakes, R Ashwin, Shams Mulani, Amit Mishra, Lalit Yadav, Pravin Dubey, Kagiso Rabada, Anrich Nortje, Ishant Sharma, Avesh Khan, Steve Smith, Umesh Yadav, Ripal Patel, Vishnu Vinod, Lukman Meriwala, M Siddarth, Tom Curran, Sam Billings, Aniruddha Joshi.

Mumbai Indians: Rohit Sharma (captain), Adam Milne, Aditya Tare, Anmolpreet Singh, Anukul Roy, Arjun Tendulkar, Chris Lynn, Dhawal Kulkarni, Hardik Pandya, Ishan Kishan, James Neesham, Jasprit Bumrah, Jayant Yadav, Kieron Pollard, Krunal Pandya, Marco Jansen, Mohsin Khan, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Piyush Chawla, Quinton De Kock (WK), Rahul Chahar, Saurabh Tiwary, Suryakumar Yadav, Trent Boult, Yudhvir Singh.

Match starts at 7.30pm IST

• IPL 2021