New Delhi: It is match number 25 for the 10th edition of Indian Premier League as overly assured Rohit Sharma and his men in blue are all geared up to host rather dicey Delhi Daredevils in Wankhede Stadium on Saturday.
Nothing much is left to say about the surprise group leaders Mumbai Indians, who have been absolutely breath-taking with the start of this campaign. Winning five consecutive games to sit atop with 10 points of six games, Mumbai had actually startled cricket fans when they cake-walked through to a massive total of 198 set forth by Punjab, in just 15.3 overs, in their last match. The usual-slow starters have rampaged through the first half of the campaign and would definitely be looking to extend their winning streak to six today. (IPL 2017 - Full Coverage)
READ: Mumbai Indians vs Delhi Daredevils - PREVIEW
The Daredevils, so far, have had a rather topsy-turvy campaign. Bouncing back from a humiliating opener, they won two consecutive matches with a huge margin, but were chipped off their form in the next two, albeit by small margins. As per skipper Zaheer Khan, “the morale is still good”, it is time that he comes up with a plan to stop Mumbai’s showdown when they step in to bat.
Here are the players to watch out for:-
Mumbai Indians
Nitish Rana- Rising from a poor domestic season that saw the Delhi-based cricketer being dropped from the team, Nitish Rana has hoisted the flag of his dominace, showing splendid prowess with the bat. And well, astounding, yet true! In a star-studded cash-rich league, this uncapped Indian batsman is the present orange cap holder scoring 255 off 6 matches with a strike rate of 142.45.
Hardik Pandya- Returning back to the limelight from his poor home season form, the younger of the Pandya brothers has proved quite a worth for his team with his all-round performance. Interesting to note is that, Hardik is yet to be dismissed in this campaign. Such is his form this season, so Daredevils pace attack have much to invest today.
Delhi Daredevils
Chris Morris- A perfect all-rounder indeed, the South African international has continued to be devastating with both ball and bat. He currently second to present purple cap holder Bhuvneshwar Kumar, by just three wickets. And, of course after last game’s controversy over de decision to send Angelo Matthews ahead of Morris, Zaheer might bring about a change to put him up the order to put more weight to their batting-order.
Sanju Samson- Being promoted to as an opener now, Sanju has succeeded in maintaining his consistency since striking the season's first century. Finally having a good start to his season, much is expected from Samson when he steps in to strike first.
