The State of Play
Two teams who have made poor starts to the IPL 2024 meet in the first episode of a double-header in the competition on Sunday, playing the first game of the day before LSG and GT tangle further up the table in the later fixture.
Delhi Capitals have won one of their first four matches, and it will be little consolation for head coach Ricky Ponting that Mumbai Indians are yet to win.
Both teams, then, could enter this contest low on confidence. Mumbai posted only 125 on their way to a six-wicket defeat at home to Rajasthan Royals on Monday, two days before DC suffered a 106-run thrashing at Kolkata Knight Riders.
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Although Ponting called his team’s performance “pretty hard to assess” immediately after their latest defeat, the Australia legend did not hold back with his views.
“I was almost embarrassed with that first half,” he said. “It took us two hours, as well, to bowl our overs. We are two overs behind again, so the guys who bowl the last two overs have four players outside the circle.
“There are a lot of things that happened that are unacceptable. A lot of things… we will have to fix immediately to go forward in this tournament.”
Ponting predicted “good, open discussions in the changing room” – and the expected restoration of Suryakumar Yadav to his attack following injury should also significantly help MI’s cause.
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Expected line-ups
Mumbai Indians: Rohit Sharma, Ishan Kishan (wk), Suryakumar Yadav, Dewald Brevis Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya (c), Tim David, Piyush Chawla, Gerald Coetzee, Jasprit Bumrah, Akash Madhwal
Delhi Capitals: David Warner, Prithvi Shaw, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Rishabh Pant (c, wk), Abishek Porel, Tristan Stubbs, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Rasikh Salam, Anrich Nortje, Ishant Sharma
🎼 𝐈 𝐛𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐯𝐞 𝐈 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐟𝐥𝐲 🪽#MumbaiMeriJaan #MumbaiIndians pic.twitter.com/H7yLzRjZuh
— Mumbai Indians (@mipaltan) April 6, 2024
How to watch
Sky have the rights to show the IPL to UK viewers in 2024 and will broadcast every game live.
Sunday’s match will be shown on Sky Sports Cricket from 10.50am BST.
In India, the games can be streamed on the Jio Cinema app and website. They are also available across the Star Sports Network.
In Geoffrey Boycott’s voice: “Wunderful, Absolutely, Wunderful” 🥹#YehHaiNayiDilli #IPL2024 #SachinTendulkar #SouravGanguly #MIvDC pic.twitter.com/TkMpUfDrx1
— Delhi Capitals (@DelhiCapitals) April 6, 2024
Prediction
As their results suggest, DC have struggled with their bowling so far, so the availability of Yadav gives MI an edge which is hard to overlook.
Rishabh Pant could help to prove that prediction wrong if he can top 50, as the India international did against CSK and KKR.
Mumbai can also rely upon Jasprit Bumrah, although the pacer’s fellow bowlers have largely struggled to support him effectively, with Akash Madhwal the man most likely to trouble Delhi otherwise.
