IPL 2018

MI aim to seal another fairytale entry into playoffs

by Cricbuzz Staff • Last updated on

Pant will once again be the key for DD. © BCCI

Mumbai Indians are used to miracles, jailbreaks and heists. They have often looked down and out only to make a Bollywoodish comeback and seal their progress. Having just won two of their first eight games, Rohit Sharma's side now has the chance to seal another fairytale late entry into the top four.

Going into the final day of the playoffs, MI needed a few results to go their way. On Saturday (May 19), RCB losing to RR made Mumbai Indians' chances all the more straightforward. Now all that's left for them is to win against bottom-placed Delhi Daredevils and make the fourth spot their own.

But going by Delhi Daredevils position on the table might just be the wrong indicator. Delhi may have won just four games this IPL and are some distance away from the rest of the pack, but they have shown that they are far from a team that can be written off. It was underlined on Friday when they handed Chennai Super Kings a thumping loss in Delhi. They could just play the perfect anti-hero, from Mumbai's perspective, and dump Rohit Sharma's side out of the competition.

Mumbai will be wary of Delhi springing in another top-notch performance like on Friday, just as Delhi will hope for an encore to round off what has been a disappointing season. It would allow them to leave a mark on a tournament in which they've otherwise struggled to stamp their authority.

When: May 20, 4 PM IST

Where: Feroz Shah Kotla, New Delhi

What to expect: A hot evening with a high of 42 should be energy sapping for the players involved. However, there will be relief that the pitch will assist the bowlers, especially the spinners.

Team News:

Delhi Daredevils: The home side resisted the urge to give some of their younger players a go against CSK and reaped dividends during the win. Expect Delhi to stick to the same line-up again.

Predicted Playing XI: Prithvi Shaw, Shreyas Iyer (c), Glenn Maxwell, Rishabh Pant (wk), Vijay Shankar, Harshal Patel, Abhishek Sharma, Amit Mishra, Trent Boult, Avesh Khan, Sandeep Lamichhane

Mumbai Indians:Given that the pitch could assist the spinners, there could be a case for Mumbai Indians to include an extra spinner in the ranks. The mystery of Akila Dhananjaya could just convince them to bring him in in place of Ben Cutting. The form of Kieron Pollard in the last game could just add more weight to that move too.

Predicted Playing XI: Suryakumar Yadav, Evin Lewis, Ishan Kishan, Rohit Sharma (c), Krunal Pandya, Kieron Pollard, Hardik Pandya, Ben Cutting/Akila Dhananjaya, Jasprit Bumrah, Mayank Markande, Mitchell McClenaghan

Head to Head of teams

DD 10 -11 MI

Team Record at that particular venue

DD 5 - 3 MI

DD have won four out of their last five games against MI at the Kotla. The only match which MI won last year, they won by 146 runs - biggest victory margin by runs in IPL.

Interesting face-offs

Bumrah vs Pant & Maxwell: The MI pacer has dismissed the two big hitter from DD thrice each in IPL. He has had the better of Pant thrice in 11 balls while Maxwell faced 21 balls for 25 runs getting out thrice.

Rohit vs Mishra: Mishra has dismissed Rohit five times in IPL - the most he has dismissed any batsman in the tournament.

IPL 2018 trends

MI have taken the most wickets this season (88) while DD have taken the fewest (70).

MI has the best bowling average (23.95) while DD has the worst (31.77).

DD has the best scoring rate among all sides in the tournament - 9.13. They have the best scoring rate at the death - 11.73.

© Cricbuzz

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