(Cricket news) Delhi Capitals and Mumbai Indians have yet to find their feet in this year’s IPL and have mirrored each other so far in 2023. Both teams have lost all of their games and are struggling to find a perfect combination in the playing XI because of injuries and player availability. Both the sides are yet to figure out their best XIs nor have any solutions in sight.
The Capitals’ biggest worry is their opening pair, where David Warner has scored two half-centuries but his strike rate of 117.03 is very disappointing. While on the other hand Prithvi Shaw has faced 17 balls in three innings. If Shaw gets going, then only Warner’s role of an anchor is justifiable in the match. DC might want to explore the option of including Phil Salt in the playing XI or even opening with the English batter especially with the team needing a fast start in the powerplay.
Mumbai’s headache is their bowling attack as Jasprit Bumrah’s absence is really taking a toll on the team. They are now heavily dependent on Jofra Archer but he too is in slight discomfort in his right elbow and missed their previous game against CSK. There has been no official update about the extent of his injury as MI have to persist with Jason Behrendorff in the line up. Many MI fans want the inclusion of Arjun Tendulkar in the line as the youngster can provide quality fast bowling and can be handy with the bat in the latter stages of the matches.
If Khaleel is not fit then Chetan Sakariya comes into the team. If they bat first, Shaw features in the first XI while he could be replaced by Mukesh Kumar could come in as an impact player and replace him. Vice-versa if they bowl first.
Probable bat-first XI: 1 David Warner (capt), 2 Prithvi Shaw, 3 Manish Pandey, 4 Rilee Rossouw, 5 Rovman Powell, 6 Lalit Yadav, 7 Axar Patel, 8 Abishek Porel (wk), 9 Chetan Sakariya, 10 Kuldeep Yadav, 11 Anrich Nortje
Probable bowl-first XI: 1 David Warner (capt), 2 Manish Pandey, 3 Rilee Rossouw, 4 Lalit Yadav, 5 Rovman Powell, 6 Axar Patel, 7 Abishek Porel (wk), 8 Chetan Sakariya, 9 Kuldeep Yadav, 10 Anrich Nortje, 11 Mukesh Kumar
With Arshad Khan conceding 14 runs per over across two games, Mumbai will likely hand a debut to Sandeep Warrier. For their Impact Player, they can use Tilak Varma and Kumar Kartikeya.
Probable bat-first XI: 1 Rohit Sharma (capt), 2 Ishan Kishan (wk), 3 Cameron Green, 4 Suryakumar Yadav, 5 Tilak Varma, 6 Tristan Stubbs, 7 Tim David, 8 Hrithik Shokeen, 9 Piyush Chawla, 10 Jason Behrendorff, 11 Sandeep Warrier
Probable bowl-first XI: 1 Rohit Sharma (capt), 2 Ishan Kishan (wk), 3 Cameron Green, 4 Suryakumar Yadav, 5 Tristan Stubbs, 6 Tim David, 7 Piyush Chawla, 8 Arjun Tendulkar, 9 Kumar Kartikeya, 10 Jason Behrendorff, 11 Sandeep Warrier
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