22 April,2017 04:40 PM IST | | Subodh Mayure
A good show by city boys Zaheer Khan, Shreyas Iyer and Aditya Tare at Wankhede could stop Mumbai Indians’ sixth win in a row today
Delhi Daredevils skipper Zaheer Khan will have to be at his best against MI today
Indian Premier League (IPL) table-toppers Mumbai Indians (MI) will want nothing less than a winning return to their home ground where they take on Delhi Daredevils at the Wankhede Stadium today.
Armed with five successive wins, the Rohit Sharma-led outfit look supremely confident as Kings XI Punjab would have noticed in their eight-wicket loss at Indore on Thursday night when the two-time champions stunned the Glenn Maxwell-led outfit.
The MI team did not train yesterday after arriving from Indore. Zaheer Khan's Delhi, who lost to Sunrisers Hyderabad by 15 runs on Wednesday, toiled hard at the Wankhede Stadium yesterday Saturday's battle will be an interesting one because it consists of players from both cities battling against each others. MI is highly dependent on Delhi's Ranji Trophy batsman Nitish Rana. The left-hander not only has played a vital role in Mumbai's five-game winning streak, but he has also then earned the
Orange cap by top-scoring in the tournament before Brendon McCullum acquired it.
On the other hand, the struggling DD side that have won only two out of their five matches, is expecting a good performance from their bowling ace skipper Zaheer, a former Mumbai Ranji Trophy team captain. Shreyas Iyer, who scored an unbeaten 50 off 31 balls against Sunrisers Hyderabad is another Mumbai cricketer on whom Delhi will depend a lot on.
Aditya Tare, Mumbai's current Ranji Trophy captain is in the Delhi Daredevils camp as well. He batted in the nets and Zaheer may want to give him his big chance on his homeground. DD's Sri Lankan stalwart Angelo Mathews, who scored 31 in 23 balls against SRH on Wednesday, accepted that it's a tough task to beat the rampaging Mumbai Indians. "We don't have so many superstars in our team, but we have got a good set of players, who can win games and that's all what matters. We have played as a team right though and have been on the verge of winning games. I'm sure we can pull it off tomorrow.
"Mumbai have been on a roll, home or away. It's a tough task for us, but we have the firepower to do it. It's just that we need to click," the Sri Lankan skipper said.
Apart from Rana, Rohit, Kieron Pollard, Jos Buttler, Hardik and Krunal Pandya are in good touch and they have excelled in chasing targets. The only worry for the hosts is the off-colour Lasith Malinga, who has proved costly in the last two matches. With veteran offie Harbhajan Singh and young pacer Jasprit Bumrah bowling well, MI may replace Malinga with New Zealand pacer Tim Southee.
DD expect Sanju Samson and Rishabh Pant to fire again while Sam Billings and Karun Nair contribute in the top order.
