An out of sorts Rohit Sharma will strive to keep himself relevant going forward in the Indian Premier League when he is challenged by Delhi Capitals’ effective troika of spinners in Mumbai Indians' next match in Delhi on Sunday.
As Rohit is fighting for form, MI will bank on Jasprit Bumrah, their lethal weapon, to deliver and ask some probing questions from K L Rahul, easily the opposition's best batter on view, and other batters.
Delhi Capitals, the team to watch out for during the first quarter, will start as favourite in this game. The hosts are eyeing their fifth consecutive win while Mumbai Indians, under lone warrior Hardik Pandya, will be hoping to avoid the ignominy of five defeats in six games.
In the IPL, just one defeat can make or break momentum and Mumbai Indians are on the cusp of having another nightmarish season after finishing at the bottom of the table in the last edition.
In times of crisis, fans expect their much-loved stars to put their hands up and contribute handsomely and Rohit needs to come out all guns blazing. Pressure is mounting on him as he continues to struggle with form. His return to the Mumbai Indians side for their high-stakes match against Royal Challengers Bengaluru was met with disappointment as he could only muster just 17 runs before being undone by a blistering delivery from Yash Dayal.
He was brought in as ‘Impact Player’, replacing spinner Vignesh Puthur in the 15th over of RCB's innings. He missed the previous match against Lucknow Super Giants due to injury.
It was his fourth failure in a row, following scores of 0, 8 and 13 in his previous three games. He has just 38 runs from four matches, at an average of 9.50.
But it would be easier said than done against a Delhi attack that has the best-performing spin unit, led by skipper Axar Patel. There is also the peerless Kuldeep Yadav, who is ably supported by rookie Vipraj Nigam.
Kuldeep, who former Australia skipper Michael Clarke, termed as the best bowler in the tournament so far, has finished his quota in all games, taking eight wickets at a brilliant economy rate of less than six runs per over.
Vipraj, a fine all-rounder in the making, has five wickets at an economy rate of a shade over eight while skipper Axar has so far gone wicketless.
However against MI, the Capitals skipper might once again open the bowling against Rohit, who doesn't enjoy a match-up against left-arm spinners or wrist spinners.
If Axar brings himself on first up or gives the ball to either Kuldeep or Vipraj, it would be an interesting battle on watch.
At the same time, Rohit has enjoyed a degree of success against Mitchell Starc and what the Australian has up his sleeves will be there for everyone to see.
For MI, the failure of Rohit, Tilak Varma and vice-captain Suryakumar Yadav has proved to be a huge issue. While Tilak and Surya have enjoyed some sporadic success, they haven't been authoritative.
A fit-again Bumrah didn't look rusty in his first game in three months. The home top-order would have a slightly difficult challenge is terms of quality as to what they have faced till now.
Jake Fraser-McGurk has looked completely out of place but it hasn't affected the team as it hasn't chased big totals in two of the four games.
Facing Shardul Thakur, Prince Yadav, Mukesh Choudhary or Bhuvneshwar Kumar is very different from decoding Bumrah, easily the best fast bowler across formats in world cricket.
The Bumrah vs Rahul battle will be a mouth-watering contest where a supreme artist will try to outwit a technician par excellence with a wide range of strokes in his repertoire.
It will be Delhi Capitals's first game at home this season. They have played two matches at Visakhapatnam, which is a "second home" for the franchise because co-owners GMR have business interest in the region.
The tracks at Kotla have undergone a sea change in last couple of seasons with plenty of runs on offer. The current DC team management, comprising head coach Hemang Badani and Director of Cricket Venugopal Rao, would probably won't want such a pitch.
It can't be confirmed whether the coaching staff has requested for a slightly tacky track where the ball grips, making it a low-scoring affair.
Teams (from):
Mumbai Indians: Hardik Pandya (captin), Jasprit Bumrah, Suryakumar Yadav, Rohit Sharma, Tilak Varma, Trent Boult, Naman Dhir, Robin Minz, Karn Sharma, Ryan Rickelton, Deepak Chahar, Allah Ghazanfar, Will Jacks, Ashwani Kumar, Mitchell Santner, Reece Topley, Krishnan Shrijith, Raj Angad Bawa, Satyanarayana Raju, Bevon Jacobs, Arjun Tendulkar, Lizaad Williams, Vignesh Puthur.
Delhi Capitals: Axar Patel (captain), Faf du Plessis, Karun Nair, Sameer Rizvi, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Ashutosh Sharma, KL Rahul, Abishek Porel, Donovan Ferreira, Tristan Stubbs, Madhav Tiwari, Tripurana Vijay, Manvanth Kumar, Vipraj Nigam, Ajay Mandal, Darshan Nalkande, Mukesh Kumar, Mohit Sharma, T Natarajan, Mitchell Starc, Dushmantha Chameera, Kuldeep Yadav.
Match starts: 19:30 IST.
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