After a poor start to the tournament, the hosts are coming to Wankhede stadium
Parthiv Patel of the Mumbai Indians raises his bat after scoring 50 runs during IPL match against The Mumbai Indians in Mohali. (Photo: AP)
Mumbai: Buoyant Mumbai Indians will be eager to stretch their winning streak when they meet Delhi Daredevils in their 10th match at the Wankhede Stadium here on Tuesday.
Delhi are just above seventh placed Mumbai Indians on superior net run rate. Daredevils had defeated Mumbai by 37 runs at Feroz Shah Kotla on April 23. Both have eight points after nine games and a slip up here could severely dent their chances of playoff’s qualification.
After a poor start to the tournament, the hosts are coming to Wankhede stadium with a purple patch having hat-trick of wins in their baggage. They come here after convincing 23-run win over Kings XI Punjab in Mohali on Sunday. In contrast Delhi Daredevils have been inconsistent throughout, losing last game to Rajasthan Royals by 14 runs at the adjacent Brabourne stadium here on Sunday.
Parthiv Patel who had 96 runs in six previous games scored his first half century (36-ball 59) on Sunday to star in 111-run opening partnership with Lendl Simmons. Both Mumbai Indians openers have been involved in brisk starts in the last four games but this time they went on to make it big.
The hosts’ top scorer Rohit Sharma (297 runs) and Trinidadian Kieron Pollard (233) haven’t been able to capitalise big time on the brisk starts in last three games. Ambati Rayudu did the job in the last home game signalling back to form. Mumbai Indians have a settled combination now though they will want to have a relook at Unmukt Chand and Jagadeesha Suchith with the likes of untested Siddhesh Lad, Pragyan Ojha and Shreyas Gopal waiting in the wings. New additions Ben Hilfenhaus and Colin Munro are also
waiting for their first opportunity.
Mitchell McClenaghan (nine wickets in five games) has been brilliant at the death picking regular wickets to help Mumbai Indians defend totals along with talismanic Lasith Malinga (13 wickets). Daredevils have some issues to address. Their fielding was sloppy in the last game and dropped a few catches and ground fielding was below par. Their death bowling leaves a lot to be desired. They can mull to bring back Imran Tahir who has 13 wickets in the tournament. Zaheer Khan knows the pitch well and so does former Mumbai Indians bowler Nathan Coulter-Nile (11 wickets). Both can be more lethal here.
In the batting department only skipper J.P. Duminy and Shreyas Iyer have been consistent. It will be homecoming for Iyer and he will want to make most of the conditions after missing out at Brabourne stadium. The visitors will want more from Yuvraj Singh and Angelo Mathews.
( Source : dc )
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