The table-toppers Mumbai Indians will host the Delhi Daredevils in the 49th game of the Indian Premier League at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.
Mumbai v Delhi odds:
Mumbai (8/15 at
bet365) have, more or less, booked their spot in the playoffs but would prefer finishing in the top two given the perquisite involved with those two positions include an extra chance at getting to the final. They have seven wins from nine games and favourites to win this one.
Delhi (17/10 at
bwin), on the other hand, were given a lease of life in the previous match against the Chargers by their captain, but the rest of the side needs to start contributing to the side’s success. The Daredevils only have an outside chance of going through to the playoffs though, a win or two against the top oppositions may not hurt the chances of their fans coming back to watch them play.
Ground and Pitch:
Barring one game against the Pune Warriors, the Wankhede has generally helped the pace bowlers extract bounce and the batsmen to play their strokes. No reason to believe it will be anything otherwise this game.
Player News:
It was a brilliant move from Mumbai Indians to have T Suman (8/1 at
Stan James) play the previous game, in place of Rajagopal Satish. The ploy worked wonders as Suman smacked a couple over the fence to push the Mumbai Indians towards a firm base before the likes of Kieron Pollard (8/1 at
bet365) could take over.
Thus far, Sachin Tendulkar (9/4 at
Stan James) and Ambati Rayadu (9/2 at
Coral) have been able to overcome the loss of an early wicket each game to carry the side out of trouble. However, they have been a tad slower than what the side would probably like them to be at the end of the first 10 overs. One senses that one of the two needs to be more aggressive even after the field-restricting overs have elapsed.
Those who watched Virender Sehwag get his century against the Chargers can count themselves as the privileged few who did. It was a bolt out of the blue and the Chargers looked like they had been stuck.
What was surprising though, was the move to keep Dave Warner (10/3 at
Coral) out of the playing eleven, despite his couple of failures. He has been one of the more consistent Daredevils batsmen at the top of the innings and needs to be persisted with. He should replace one of Aaron Finch or Travis Birt (7/1 at
Stan James) in the line-up.
Prediction:
Mumbai Indians will be whopping favourites to notch up their eighth win. Unless, Sehwag can come up with another of those sizzling efforts. They say, though, lightening does not strike the same place twice!
