Must win game lined up for Delhi Capitals against already qualified Mumbai Indians

The final doubleheader weekend of the Indian Premier League (IPL) is all set to be a tournament-defining one. Fans can only miss out on the high-octane action at their own loss.

Super Saturday marks the top of the table clash between Mumbai Indians (MI) and Delhi Capitals (DC) at Dubai.

With Kolkata Knight Riders’ (KKR) loss at the hands of Chennai Super Kings (CSK) on Thursday, MI became the first team to qualify into the Playoffs. The ‘Men in Blue’ have easily been the most dominant side in the competition.

Earlier, Surya Kumar Yadav and Jasprit Bumrah inspired MI’s win over the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) on Wednesday.

DC, on the other hand, faces the uphill task of finding back their winning form. The Shreyas Iyer-led side has dipped during the business end of the tournament, with three successive losses in their last three games.

The game will hold more significance for the Capitals who have to win at least one out of their last two games in the league stages, to progress into the IPL Playoffs.

DC’s reputed bowling lineup was taken to the cleaners during their last three results. As a result, their batting unit collapsed under excessive pressure.

Coach Ricky Ponting has his task cut-out in sorting out the broken pieces in their lineup and become proactive in achieving the desired result as soon as possible.

Opener Shikhar Dhawan’s form has quickly spiralled down. The flambouyant left-hander has to devise a method to get back amongst the runs.

Kagiso Rabada has been expensive in his last few outings. Both Dhawan and Rabada hold the key to DC’s success in the game against MI.

Even in the absence of Rohit Sharma, Kieron Pollard has done well to lead the side with his composure and tactical acumen.

MI appears to be well-rounded in all departments with rich reserves in the bench at their disposal. Moreover, MI have clicked well as a team with match-winning contributions from different personnel in every game.

Predicted XI:

DC:

Ajinkya Rahane, Shikhar Dhawan, Shreyas Iyer (c), Rishabh Pant (wk), Shimron Hetmyer, Marcus Stoinis, Axar Patel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Kagiso Rabada, Anrich Nortje, Tushar Deshpande.

MI:

Ishan Kishan, Quinton de Kock (wk), Suryakumar Yadav, Saurabh Tiwary, Hardik Pandya, Kieron Pollard (c), Krunal Pandya, James Pattinson, Rahul Chahar, Trent Boult, Jasprit Bumrah.