(Cricket news) Both teams are coming off very good victories as one team has the chance to be unbeaten after today's match. For both the teams the middle order sealed the win in their respective first matches of the season. For the DC, there is some good news as both the Australians Mitch Marsh and David Warner have landed in India and are going through their quarantine, although Injured Australia allrounder will join the Capitals squad in India and "continue his recovery" from the low-grade hip flexor injury and David Warner will be available for the next game.
The Gujarat Titans showed the IPL that they have the best bowling line up in this season as Mohammed Shami produced a brilliant opening spell, while Lockie Ferguson and Rashid Khan made sure they kept things tight in the eight overs they bowled. The biggest positive for not only the GT camp but for India also was Hardik Pandya bowled his full quota seamlessly without a hitch. Rashid Khan will be the key to break the back of DC middle order, which includes Rishabh Pant and Axar Patel, especially if Gujarat Titans have to defend the score with a wet ball. Rashid has the edge over Pant as he has dismissed him twice in 71 balls, leaking only 78 runs. GT needs runs from their top order especially from Shubman Gill and Vijay Shankar in order to take some pressure off the middle order.
Delhi Capitals still don't have their best XI available at their disposal with two of their key Australian players still not with the squad. Yet they showed how strong their back-up options and depth in the squad. A lot will ride on Prithvi Shaw to help give DC to a strong start against an in-form Mohammed Shami. Since January 2019, Mohammed Shami has a strike rate of 31.1 in the powerplay in IPL, with an economy rate of 6.90 which Shaw in turn needs to counter to give his team a good start in the powerplay. In the last match, DC’s middle order won them the game as Lalit Yadav and Axar Patel made a brilliant partnership to guide their team forward but these two were selected in the squad for their bowling prowess as they need to distribute equal pressure amongst the spinners.
Pitch and weather report: The weather conditions are expected to be more pleasant as the temperature is going to hover around 29 degrees with no chance of rain, a fairly cooler and less humid than in Mumbai, which would also mean that there will be less dew. The pacers will have some assistance but dew is still expected to play a part in the contest as the trend of bowling first will continue.
Interesting facts:
- Mustafizur Rahman's has an economy rate 8.1 in the death overs who joined the squad after the Bangladesh vs South Africa Odi series
- Hardik Pandya needs one more six to reach 100 sixes in the IPL
- Axar Patel needs t nine more runs to get 1000 runs in the IPL
- Rashid needs 6 more wickers to reach 100 wickets in the tournament
- Among the 23 bowlers with 50+ wickets since January 2019, Mohammed Shami's strike rate of 44 is the third-best behind Kyle Jamieson (43.5) and Kagiso Rabada (43.9).
Probable XI for GT:
1 Shubman Gill, 2 Matthew Wade (wk), 3 Vijay Shankar, 4 Abhinav Manohar, 5 Hardik Pandya (capt), 6 David Miller, 7 Rahul Tewatia, 8 Rashid Khan, 9 Varun Aaron, 10 Lockie Ferguson, 11 Mohammed Shami
Probable XI for MI:
1 Prithvi Shaw, 2 Tim Seifert, 3 Mandeep Singh, 4 Rishabh Pant (capt, wk), 5 Rovman Powell, 6 Lalit Yadav, 7 Axar Patel, 8 Shardul Thakur, 9 Kuldeep Yadav, 10 Khaleel Ahmed, 11 Mushtafizur Rahman/ Lungi Ngidi
Also read: Chennai Super Kings eye improved show against Punjab Kings
