Pant vs Bumrah in focus as Mumbai arrive in Delhi for Capitals challenge

Match details

Delhi Capitals (DC; 6th place) vs Mumbai Indians (MI; 8th place)
Arun Jaitley Stadium, Delhi, 3.30pm IST (10am GMT)

Big Picture – Pant vs Bumrah

Rishabh Pant has gone from strength to strength since his comeback to competitive cricket. After showing glimpses of his old self in earlier games, he unleashed havoc on the Gujarat Titans bowlers in Delhi Capitals’ previous outing, with 88 off 43 balls and some geometry-defying pyrotechnics.

With 342 runs in nine outings, Pant has already crossed his run-tally from the last time he played the IPL in 2022. He is comfortably DC’s highest run-getter this season and boasts a strike rate of 161.32. That strike rate goes further up to 190.55 against fast bowlers.

But when Capitals face Mumbai Indians on Saturday, Pant could be in for his sternest test of IPL 2024 against old nemesis Jasprit Bumrah.

Bumrah has been in prime form this season. With 13 wickets and an economy rate of 6.37, he is the joint-highest wicket-taker and Mumbai’s best bowler. More importantly, he has a stellar record against Pant. Bumrah has dismissed Pant six times in 13 IPL innings – more than any other bowler. Pant has a strike rate of 111.6 against Bumrah and averages just 8.00.

Bumrah has an economy rate of 7.20 in the death overs in IPL 2024, better than any bowler who has bowled more than two overs. Pant, meanwhile is going at a strike rate of 260.60 this season in the last four. The two didn’t come face to face when DC met MI earlier in the competition. But if they do, it could make for an interesting battle within a battle.

MI are currently eighth on the points table with three wins in eight games. Hosts DC, who have won three of their last four outings, are sixth on eight points but have played one extra game.

Previous meeting in IPL 2024

Romario Shepherd blasted 39 off 10 balls, including a 32-run last over against Anrich Nortje, as Mumbai racked up 234 for 5. Tristan Stubbs also hammered an unbeaten 25-ball 71, but it came too late as DC managed only 205.

Team news and impact player strategy

Delhi Capitals: David Warner remains unavailable due to a finger injury, while Ishant Sharma has also been ruled out of the game. Afghanistan allrounder Gulbadin Naib, who recently replaced Mitchell Marsh in the squad, is available.

They brought in Rasikh Salam as an impact sub for Prithvi Shaw last game and are likely to go that way again. If the surface is conducive to spin, they could also get in Lalit Yadav for his offspin and batting. Nortje has been woefully out of form (economy 13.36) so DC could bring in Jhye Richardson in too.

Probable XII: 1 Prithvi Shaw, 2 Jake Fraser-McGurk, 3 Shai Hope, 4 Rishabh Pant (capt & wk), 5 Tristan Stubbs, 6 Abishek Porel, 7 Axar Patel, 8 Kuldeep Yadav, 9 Anrich Nortje/Jhye Richardson, 10 Mukesh Kumar, 11 Khaleel Ahmed, 12 Rasikh Salam

Mumbai Indians: Suryakumar Yadav is favourite to be MI’s Impact Player. They started with three overseas players in the previous game, with Nuwan Thushara coming on later. Mumbai could go with the same combination but could also be tempted to have Shepherd in given his performance in the reverse fixture.

Probable XII: 1 Rohit Sharma, 2 Ishan Kishan (wk), 3 Suryakumar Yadav, 4 Tilak Varma, 5 Hardik Pandya (capt), 6 Tim David, 7 Nehal Wadhera, 8 Mohammad Nabi, 9 Gerald Coetzee, 10 Piyush Chawla, 11 Jasprit Bumrah, 12 Nuwan Thushara/Romario Shepherd

In the spotlight – Kuldeep Yadav and Hardik Pandya

Kuldeep Yadav has been phenomenal this season. With 12 wickets and an economy of 7.54, he is just one away from the Purple Cap, but what’s been most impressive is his 11 wickets in the middle overs, the joint-most in that phase this season. He is also going at an economy of just 6.40 in the phase. MI’s middle order hasn’t been their strongest suit and Kuldeep could add more to his tally.

Nothing much has gone to plan for Hardik Pandya. In eight innings in IPL 2024, he has scored just 151 runs, averaging 21.57 with a strike rate of 142.25. With the ball, he has only managed four wickets going at an economy rate of 10.94. Pandya’s entry point while batting has also been a major talking point. In MI’s previous game, he came in after a strong 99-run stand between Tilak Varma and Nehal Wadhera and sucked the momentum out of the game with a run-a-ball 10, with Tim David still waiting to bat. A strong show with both bat and ball will do Pandya’s confidence a world of good.

Pitch and conditions

Runs, runs and more runs have been the theme in the two games in Delhi. Teams have thrashed 57 sixes in two matches here, with scores of 200 breached three times in four innings and the lowest score standing at 199. The shorter square boundaries could bring the likes of Suryakumar, Tim David and Jake Fraser-McGurk into the picture with another high-scoring affair expected. This will, however, be the first day game in Delhi and that could mean some assistance for spinners.

The temperature will be around the 38C mark in the day.

Quotes

“It was obvious in that last game against RR that wasn’t the standard that we set ourselves to. That’s a challenge to the playing group. We are responsible for setting that tone and for providing the intent in the field. We haven’t been effective enough at shutting teams down when they’ve gotten going. That’s a challenge moving forward and again if we are going to play well through in the back-end of this tournament then we have to fire through as bowlers, as batters and in the field. We need to play our best cricket.
MI’s Tim David says the team needs all three departments to come together in the second-half of the league