We are almost at the halfway mark of the tournament and somehow, the bowling started working beautifully. Which will work best–either the short ground or the slowness of the wicket? The golden question itself worked much, I think. Now, we are having something positive…. something that may go with the pre-match game plan. An equation which was resulting in fragments gets round. If you wish to win a match chasing, you have to restrict the opposition under an average score and then you have to be well aware of the pace of the wicket. If you bat first, you must not be in a hurry.

Delhi, having lost the toss, started going after Jofra Archer and got trapped. While considering Sharjah a short ground, they never tried to respect either Archer or the wicket. So, as I said before in my article DC vs RCB, Smith capitalized Delhi’s inexperience and impatience. An in-form Stoinis and a hard-hitting Hetmyer in the first half, and a champion Ashwin in the second came to rescue Delhi Capitals. For Mumbai Indians, their bowling in the last match was fantastic. But Rajasthan faced them as they were batting at Perth or at Edgbaston. It was not so.

In a derby like game, Delhi, as a complete team, are just ahead of Mumbai. But with a better captain in the side, Mumbai are at home and very aware of marginal mistakes. We expect an absolute fight between two captains here.

Against Mumbai, Shikhar Dhawan has to take more responsibility, as he has experience of playing international pace bowlers. Prithvi Shaw should acknowledge that Bumrah, Boult, and Pattinson are great fast bowlers. He must wait for the right delivery to attack. Shreyas Iyer is in form and he may go after Rahul Chahar and Krunal Pandey. Rishabh Pant is to be groomed well. If Stoinis is at his best, he must contribute a little with his bat. Delhi have a good lower order with Ashwin and Axar Patel.

It may be Quinton de Kock’s day against Rabada and Nortje. But I think either Axar or Ashwin will be sent upfront. So de Kock must rotate strike with Rohit Sharma who needs no introduction in this article. Suryakumar Yadav did well in the last game. Ishan Kishan and Hardik Pandya are also contributing to the team in a necessary situation. Pollard is batting at almost lower order. If Delhi have a separate plan for him, it’s all okay. Otherwise, he can spoil anything enjoyable to the opposition. Mumbai has not got a long batting line down to number ten. But Mumbai did never necessitate so.

Both the teams have excellent bowling units. Now it’s all about them, how they do their best on the field. Mumbai have very successful pace trio and Rahul Chahar with spin. Rohit Sharma has to decide when to use Krunal and Pollard. Delhi have a better bowling line with two frontline spinners.

On winning toss, without any ifs and buts, anyone will bat. At Abu Dhabi, wicket getting slow even in the second half of the first innings. But it never decides that a target cannot be chased. KXIP should have chased it down the other night. So get ready for a crackerjacker game of cricket. Both the teams may go with the same playing XI.