Harpal Singh Bedi
New Delhi, 10 April : Hosts Delhi Capitals and former champion Mumbai Indians will battle it out for their first win in this season’s Indian Premier League when they face each other at Arun Jaitley Stadium here on Tuesday.
While Delhi Capitals have suffered three big defeats in trot, Mumbai Indians have lost both their matches they have played so far.
DC lost their opener to Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) by 50 runs, lost second match to Gujarat Titans by 6 wickets and then went down to Rajasthan Royals by 57 Runs.
Much talked about MI also received drubbing in their two matches, they lost by 8 wickets to RCB and then received a 7-wicket trashing from traditional rival CSK .
With DC ‘s campaign tottering at the initial stages of the league, its assistant Coach Pravin Amre tried to put up a brave face said, “We are currently focusing on the present and we are looking forward to our match against Mumbai Indians. And the fact that we are playing at home is a plus point for us.”
The Delhi Capitals have been on the wrong side of the result in their first three games of the season. Amre expressed that the way the team finishes is more important, “IPL is a long tournament and we are hopeful about our chances. Sometimes you don’t start well, but the way we finish is more important.”
DC have used 16 players in their three games, but have not been able to stitch a balanced combination. The top heavy think tank which includes among other Rickey Ponting and Sourav Ganguly seems clueless because but for skipper David Warner has two half-centuries to his credit in three outings other batters have failed to live, up the expectations and less said the better abut bowling and fielding .
Absence of M.Marsh is becoming another headache as Rilee Rossouw and Rovman Powell have failed to deliver while Manish Pandey has a golden duck to his credit. Left-arm pacer Khaleel Ahmed is having a hamstring niggle is unlikely to play against MI
Asked about the aspect the team needs to work on, Amre said, “We have to work on our powerplay game with the bat. When your top four batters get runs, then your team is in a different position. However, we have to execute our plans well in all three departments of the game as well.”
About opener Prithvi Shaw’s form, Amre said, “He is a capable batter. But yes, he hasn’t delivered according to our expectations. We are hopeful that he will deliver for us. We all know that he has the ability.”
Amre was however optimistic that his team will come out with better showing tomorrow. “We have full confidence in our team and the boys are capable of delivering. I don’t think our campaign has been derailed. It is a long tournament and we have seen many a turnarounds ‘ He praises all-rounder Axar Patel and hoped that bowlers like Mukesh Kumar, Anrich Nortje, Kuldeep Yadav will come out good against MIFor Mumbai lot depends on captain Rohit Sharma, Ishan Kishan and Suryakumar Yadav as how they will build up the innings .Tilak Varma has been the only batter for them to put up some resistance . The trio of Rohit, Ishan and SKY have contributed total of 80 runs in two matches, with expensive buy Cameron Green yet to click with the bat and ball.
Mumbai’s main problem is their weak bowling department. In the absence of Jasprit Bumrah and Jhye Richardson, they will be hoping for some good efforts from Jason Behrendorff, Riley Meredith, Arshad Khan, Kumar Kartikeya and Piyush Chawla In the last five meetings between the two teams, Delhi Capitals have won three time and MI twice
