The Delhi Daredevils will host the Mumbai Indians at the rather sticky pitch at the Feroz Shah Kotla today in a night game in the third edition of the Indian Premier League. Delhi go into the game with two wins from as many games whereas Mumbai has played one and won one.
Fortunately for the Mumbai Indians, they will have the West Indian duo of Dwayne Bravo (7/1 at Boylesports to top-score for Mumbai) and Kieron Pollard (7/1 at Boylesports to top-score for Mumbai) for this game, and their availability could make that huge difference to the side. Of course, it remains to be seen whether the Mumbai Indians skipper Sachin Tendulkar (3/1 at Ladbrokes to be the best batsman) will want to make wholesale changes to the playing eleven that beat the Rajasthan Royals. But, the one point to be noted from their previous match is that they had gone into the game with only three foreign players, and that will mean that a Bravo-Ali Murtuza switch is in line.
Whether or not Pollard will play could depend on whether the captain considers Ryan McLaren (25/1 at Blue Square to be the best batsman) as a genuine bowling option or prefers the slowish medium-pace of Pollard. The one other player, who was surprisingly missing from the line-up in the previous game was Abhishek Nayar (10/1 at Ladbrokes to be the best batsman for his side), and to get him into the side will need them to axe one of Rayadu, Satish or Tiwari.
Delhi has had two wins in as many games thanks to their openers; Virender Sehwag (11/4 at Boylesports to top-score for the side) and Gautam Gambhir (7/2 at Bet365 to be Delhi’s best batsman). While Gambhir played a captain’s knock in their first game, Sehwag blew the Royals off in the second. Tillakaratne Dilshan (4/1 at Blue Square to be the best batsman for Delhi) has yet to open his account in the tournament so far, and if he gets going, the Mumbai Indians will have much more than a proverbial headache – such is his destructive strength.
Apart from this illustrious batsmen, the one other name that is often under-rated but has often proved his usefulness is Dinesh Karthik (13/2 at Sky Bet to top-score for his side) and the manner in which he has batted has often changed games around for his side.
Looking at the batting strengths of both sides, one is tempted to say that the side that bowls better would end up trumps. For now, the Daredevils (8/11 at Sky Bet to make it three wins in a row) definitely look the better of two bowling units, but with that X-factor in Pollard amidst their line-up, Mumbai (6/5 at Boylesports to win the match) could be in the running as well.
Tips:
Favourites: Delhi Daredevils (8/11 at Sky Bet)
Top Delhi batsman: Tillakaratne Dilshan (4/1 at Blue Square)
Top Mumbai batsman: Dwayne Bravo (7/1 at Boylesports)