Delhi banking on Kohli in do-or-die against Mumbai

Hosts Delhi will bank heavily on their premier batsman Virat Kohli as they take on defending champions Mumbai in a do-or-die final Ranji Trophy group encounter at the Roshanara ground from Wednesday.

After their shock defeat against Railways in the last game, the Mithun Manhas-led Delhi side will be keen to put aside the disappointment and aim for an outright win in order to qualify for the knock-out stages.

For Mumbai, it is a match where they will play more for pride rather than anything else, as they qualified for the quarter-finals well in advance with two matches in hand.

With Virat and regular captain Mithun Manhas coming back into the side, the middle-order, which looked brittle against Railways, will bear a solid look.

While Virat scored back-to-back centuries in the first two Ranji Trophy encounters against Bengal and Tamil Nadu, it was skipper Mithun's century that made the difference when Delhi registered their only outright win, against Assam.

"I don't think the defeat in the last match will be of any consequence when the players get out in the field tomorrow. We have a few important players like Virat Kohli coming back and that will definitely bolster the side," Delhi coach Manoj Prabhakar said.

As far as the team is concerned, Delhi might go in with a four-pronged pace attack if left-arm spinner Vikash Mishra, who has a stiff calf muscle, doesn't recover in time.

If Mishra doesn't play, Parwinder Awana along with Sumit Narwal, Pradeep Sangwan and Pawan Suyal will form the attack.

Mumbai captain Wasim Jaffer, who is the leading run-scorer in the Super League currently, said that there is no room for complacency when Mumbai takes on Delhi.

"Even if we have already qualified doesn't mean that we will take Delhi lightly. We can't let a lacklustre performance affect us. A good performance will give us confidence when get into the knock-out stage of the competition," Jaffer said.

Mumbai have rested senior offie Ramesh Powar and seamer Dhawal Kulkarni for this match. However the side's batting still bears a formidable look with domestic run-machines like Jaffer, Ajinkya Rahane and the very talented Rohit Sharma and Abhishek Nayar in the side.