After a nine-wicket drubbing at the hands of Kolkata Knight Riders, Daredevils have bounced back in style to notch up successive victories. While the bowlers – Amit Mishra in particular – played a key role in helping Delhi Daredevils get off the mark on their home turf, it was opener Quinton de Kock who hammered the first century of the ninth edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) to guide Daredevils to a morale-boosting seven-wicket win over a star-studded Royal Challengers Bangalore line-up in their own backyard.

However, barring de Kock, Karun Nair and Sanju Samson, Delhi’s batters haven’t spent as much time in the middle. Their star purchases, Carlos Brathwaite and Pawan Negi, are yet make a substantial contribution to justify their phenomenal price tag.

With two wins and three losses, Mumbai Indians, on the other hand, are placed fifth in the tally with four points. Having lost two of their key players due to injuries, Lendl Simmons and Lasith Malinga, the two-time champions are struggling for consistency.

Captain Rohit Sharma, and Ambati Rayudu to an extent, have been amongst the runs but the rest of the line-up hasn’t really fired. Krunal Pandya and Kieron Pollard have created an immediate impact but the management would like the others to step up before it is too late in the day.

In the 16 head-to-head matches between the two teams, the honors are locked at eight each. At the Kotla though, the hosts hold a 4-2 advantage. An unexpected dust storm in the evening lowered the temperatures in the NCR region, only slightly though. But that’s hardly expected to affect the game on Saturday.
Teams:

Delhi Daredevils (From): Quinton de Kock(w), Shreyas Iyer, Sanju Samson, Karun Nair, Jean-Paul Duminy, Carlos Brathwaite, Pawan Negi, Chris Morris, Zaheer Khan(c), Amit Mishra, Mohammed Shami, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Sam Billings, Shahbaz Nadeem, Mayank Agarwal, Imran Tahir, Pawan Suyal, Jayant Yadav, Akhil Herwadkar, Chama Milind, Pratyush Singh, Mahipal Lomror, Rishabh Pant, Khaleel Ahmed

Mumbai Indians (From): Rohit Sharma(c), Parthiv Patel(w), Jos Buttler, Ambati Rayudu, Kieron Pollard, Hardik Pandya, Krunal Pandya, Harbhajan Singh, Tim Southee, Mitchell McClenaghan, Jasprit Bumrah, Corey Anderson, Akshay Wakhare, Shreyas Gopal, Vinay Kumar, Marchant de Lange, Siddhesh Lad, Unmukt Chand, Suchith, Nitish Rana, Jitesh Sharma, Deepak Punia, Nathu Singh, Kishore Kamath, Martin Guptill, Lasith Malinga