It will be the advantage Mumbai Indians (MI) in the final of the Indian Premier League 2020 to be played on Tuesday evening as they enjoy an overall better team balance than Delhi Capitals (DC).
Despite having no batsman in their ranks to match the numbers of Delhi Capitals veteran Shikhar Dhawan who sits at the second spot in the list of leading run-scorers in the tournament, the Rohit Sharma-led side still holds an edge in batting on the strength of a consistent middle-order.
In contention for the Orange Cap, Dhawan has over 600 runs to his name. For Mumbai, there hasn't been a single batsman to aggregate over 500 runs during this year, but their top three batsmen edge out Delhi's top trio in collective scores.
The top DC trio - Dhawan, Shreyas Iyer and Marcus Stoinis - have aggregated 1,409 runs whereas the top MI trio - Ishan Kishan, Quinton de Kock and Suryakumar Yadav -have aggregated 1,427 runs.
In bowling too, the four-time champions are better than DC. They have an economy rate of 7.75 whereas that of DC is 8.13. MI's strike rate of 20 is also a shade better than DC's strike rate of 21.9 while MI have also conceded less number of runs than DC while picking a wicket. MI's average is 25.83 while DC's average is 29.69.
Also, Dubai, which is the venue of the final, has been a happier hunting ground for the bowlers in comparison to Abu Dhabi and Sharjah. Bowlers' statistics in all three major aspects -- economy, strike rate and average -- have been slightly better than the overall tournament numbers.
Bowlers have conceded 8.08 runs per over in Dubai while in the entire tournament they have conceded 8.16. Bowlers also have a better strike rate of 21.61 in Dubai than in the entire tournament where they have 22.41. Bowling average in Dubai is 29.1 while it is 30.47 in the tournament.
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