MI vs DC Preview: Hardik Pandya’s Mumbai hunt first points against inconsistent Delhi

Hardik Pandya’s Mumbai are still hunting for first points in the Indian Premier League.

The team faces Delhi in their second home match at the Wankhede Stadium on Sunday, 7 April. The first day game in Mumbai is set to be played under the scorching summer sun with temperatures expected to soar above 35 degree Celsius. Mumbai will hope to make the most of the home conditions and get their campaign going.

Delhi, on the other hand, are coming off a heavy loss against Kolkata and are still looking to be consistent. DC had a forgettable day in their previous fixture and have no choice but to shake that off and focus, things can slip away very quickly if they get into the habit of losing games at the start of their campaign.

Hardik Pandya and Rishabh Pant will be the point of focus on Sunday but for contrasting reasons. Pandya has been booed in all the games so far, presumably for taking over Rohit Sharma’s team. DC director of cricket Sourav Ganguly had a stern message for the fans, asking them to not boo Pandya. Ganguly said that he was appointed as the captain by MI, so there was no sense in booing the player.

Rishabh Pant, on the other hand, is showing steady signs of returning to his best, and who knows, what destruction will he bring in front of the Wankhede crowd tomorrow?

MI vs DC: Head-to-Head
The two teams have played 33 runs between them and are quite evenly matched at the moment. Mumbai have a narrowly lead over Delhi having won 18 of those 33 matches. All matches have borne results in this rivalry, with Delhi winning 15 games.

MI vs DC: Team news
Delhi come into the game with two injury concerns. Delhi’s director of cricket Sourav Ganguly has confirmed that Mitchell Marsh is not going to play on Sunday due to injury. DC are also assessing the status of Kuldeep Yadav’s groin injury and it is possible that the spinner misses out on Sunday as well. This will provide DC with the option of playing one between Shai Hope and Jake Fraser-McGurk, which should be an exciting prospect for the team.

Mumbai have no injury concerns and recently welcomed back Suryakumar Yadav into the mix. The Indian star is coming off a lengthy layoff and could be eased into things. So, we can expect him to sit out this match as well and be ready for the next one.

MI vs DC: Pitch conditions
The Wankhede pitch supported a fair amount of movement with the new ball. One can expect that in a day game, the swing would be less and hence this might turn out to be a belter of a batting track.

MI vs DC: Predicted Playing XIs
Mumbai Indians Predicted XI: Rohit Sharma, Ishan Kishan (wk), Naman Dhir, Tilak Verma, Hardik Pandya(c), Tim David, Gerald Coetzee, Piyush Chawla, Jasprit Bumrah, Kwena Maphaka, Akash Madhwal

Impact sub: Dewald Brevis

Delhi Capitals Predicted XI: Prithvi Shaw, David Warner, Jake Fraser-McGurk , Rishabh Pant(c/wk), Tristan Stubbs, Axar Patel, Sumit Kumar, Rasikh Salam, Anrich Nortje, Ishant Sharma, Khaleel Ahmed