Four-time champions Mumbai Indians will start favorites against Delhi Capitals in the final of IPL 2020 on Tuesday. Here is a kind of prediction for the all-important clash which will be played in Dubai.

Mumbai Indians (MI) came into the 2020 Indian Premier League (IPL) as the defending champions. And they have played like one thus far. After topping the points table in the league stage, Rohit Sharma and Co made the final, beating the Delhi Capitals (DC) in the Qualifier 1 at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium.

Today, November 10, MI will again face the Capitals in Dubai. Having already beaten the Capitals three times in the ongoing edition, MI would be starting as the favorites. However, Shreyas Iyer’s DC will be high on confidence as they.

The Capitals, in the Qualifier 2, got past the Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) by 17 runs to make their maiden final of the IPL. Having already waited 13 years, they will be desperate to cross the final hurdle, defying the odds.

Pitch & Conditions

The pitch in Dubai has been an excellent one for batting. Runs have flowed in the power play in recent times. But the fast bowlers have also extracted a lot from the surface.

In a crunch game like the final, the teams should be looking to bat first, put a score on the board and then exert pressure on the opposition. The temperature will be around 30 degrees Celsius with the humidity in the 50s.

Probable Top Performers for MI vs DC

Quinton de Kock has been the standout batsman for MI in the T20 tournament. The left-hander has scored 483 runs from 15 matches at an average and strike-rate of 37.15 and 139.59 respectively.

The Mumbai-based team have been able to make use of the power play on the back of some stunning knocks from the southpaw. In the crunch game on Tuesday, MI will be hoping for him to fire again.

Shikhar Dhawan-DC, is one of the contenders to get the Orange Cap after he scored a half-century against the Sunrisers on Sunday. The left-hander is only 68 runs away from toppling Kings XI Punjab’s (KXIP) KL Rahul, who’s sitting on the top with 670 runs.

Dhawan started the tournament in a jittery manner but now has 603 runs from 16 matches at an average and strike-rate of 46.38 and 145.65.

Mumbai Indians have comfortably beaten Delhi Capitals in all three meetings between the two sides so far this season and will start as the favorites against Shreyas Iyer& Co. in the summit clash. Rohit Sharma will be gunning for his 5th title as captain and steer clear as the best captain in the history of the competition.

Both teams have a formidable bowling attack packed with pace and variety. While Jasprit Bumrah and Trent Boult will spearhead the MI attack, DC will hope for a top-notch performance from their Proteas pace duo of Kagiso Rabada and Anrich Nortje. Mumbai Indians' batsmen have fired all cylinders this season with the likes of Ishan Kishan, Quinton de Kock, Hardik Pandya and Suryakumar Yadav all among runs.

However, the same can't be said about Delhi Capitals, who have struggled to find consistency from their Indian stars like Prithvi Shaw, Rishabh Pant and Ajinkya Rahane among others. Iyer too hasn't been up to the mark with the bat and has delivered in patches for the side. Marcus Stoinis was sent out to open in their knockout game against Sunrisers Hyderabad and the Aussie is expected to keep the opening slot in the final.

Match Timings – 06:00 PM local time, 07:30 PM IST


By Urban D'souza