2020 has been unique for sure and so has the 13th edition of the IPL which comes to an end with the final between Mumbai Indians and Delhi Capitals on 10 November in Dubai. While the most unique thing about the year has been rather dark, the effect on the defending champions was quite the opposite as the traditional slow starters won four of their first six games. And for once, the name Chennai Super Kings didn’t feature in the playoffs.
Mumbai, the most decorated side, have been in top form through the tournament and have comprehensively beaten the Delhi Capitals thrice over the recent weeks. Mumbai, with four trophies from five previous finals, are veterans of this stage. For Delhi, who have in their dugout the most decorated captain in ODI cricket in Ricky Ponting as head coach, will want to settle a few scores in their maiden appearance at this stage.
Mumbai’s concerns in the recent past would have been centred around their captain’s fitness and his form apart from the groin injury scare to Trent Boult, who left the field after doing a considerable amount of damage to Delhi in the first Qualifier. Surprisingly, Rohit has been well below par this year as compared to his otherwise lofty standards with only 264 runs from 11 games. That it has hardly been felt in MI’s performances is testament to the quality of performances from the likes of Quinton de Kock (483 runs), Suryakumar Yadav (461 runs) and the very prolific Ishan Kishan (483 runs).
They are followed by the explosive duo of Hardik Pandya and Kieron Pollard, both of whom can clear the ropes at any ground with relative ease.
Pace ace Jasprit Bumrah is back to his dangerous best and has been ably supported by Boult, Rahul Chahar and Krunal Pandya, who’s developed quite the bouncer.
While Mumbai’s players’ roles are very well settled, Delhi on the other hand have been tinkering around with their batting line-up – the latest allowed Marcus Stoinis some freedom and SRH bore the brunt! While it is unlikely that Delhi will want to bring Stoinis back down the order, they will need Shikhar Dhawan to put his best foot forward as well, especially considering the fact that Shreyas Iyer and Rishabh Pant have not really fired.
Delhi will also need the pace twins Anrich Nortje and Kagiso Rabada to be at their best and the shrewd spinners in R Ashwin and Axar Patel will also have their cut out.
Will Bumrah take the Purple Cap from Rabada? Will Ricky Ponting win his second IPL title as coach, the first being with Mumbai in 2015? Can Rohit Sharma silence the few detractors? Will Suryakumar Yadav, whosd ‘I’m there’ gesture against the Royal Challengers Bangalore has become part of IPL folklore, make the Indian team thinktank uncomfortable yet again? Or will Rishabh Pant roll back the clock to 2019 when he smashed Mumbai’s bowling all over the park?
There’s plenty of subplots and absolutely all the ingredients for a cracking finale as the two best teams in the season square up for the IPL title.
Mumbai Indians: Rohit Sharma (captain), Aditya Tare, Anmolpreet Singh, Anukul Roy, Chris Lynn, Dhawal Kulkarni, Digvijay Deshmukh, Hardik Pandya, Ishan Kishan, James Pattison, Jasprit Bumrah, Jayant Yadav, Kieron Pollard, Krunal Pandya, Mitchell McClenaghan, Mohsin Khan, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Prince Balwant Rai, Quinton De Kock, Rahul Chahar, Saurabh Tiwary, Sherfane Rutherford, Suryakumar Yadav, Trent Boult.
Delhi Capitals: Shreyas Iyer (c), Kagiso Rabada, Marcus Stoinis, Sandeep Lamichhane, Ishant Sharma, Ajinkya Rahane, Ravichandran Ashwin, Shikhar Dhawan, Shimron Hetmyer, Alex Carey, Mohit Sharma, Prithvi Shaw, Lalit Yadav, Avesh Khan, Axar Patel, Tushar Deshpande, Rishabh Pant, Harshal Patel, Keemo Paul, Amit Mishra, Anrich Nortje, Daniel Sams.
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