Mumbai and Rajasthan will lock horns in Delhi for the mid-table clash in Indian T20 League 2021. Mumbai are coming off a defeat against Punjab, while Rajasthan added their second win against Kolkata.
Match Timings: April 29, 3:30 PM IST
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Mumbai and Rajasthan will kick off their Delhi-leg in Indian T20 League 2021 after a mixed start to the season. Mumbai cannot afford such a poor start to 2021 after winning two previous editions with ease, while Rajasthan continues their campaign in a similar fashion we have seen in the last couple of years. Both sides have two wins out of five and they would look to make it three out of six to reach fourth in the table.
Mumbai suffered another defeat in Chennai and this time, Punjab defeated them by 9 wickets. Rohit Sharma scored a fine half-century but poor middle-order performance hurt their goals. Defending champions got enough break to solve their issues and it was the longest break any franchise got in 2021. Mumbai have to fix their problems ahead of the second half of the season. Rohit and Surya both looked promising good with the bat but the story is reversed when it comes to middle-order. There is one good knock in middle-order which was played by Pollard against Hyderabad. Mumbai lost 22 wickets in 2020 in death-overs but in 2021, they lost more than 22 in just 5 games. Their batting collapse is putting more trouble on their bowlers. Their highest total of the season is 159 and each side got more than 160 at least once this season. Rohit would avoid any big chance and Mumbai will show faith on their current XI.
Meanwhile, Rajasthan showed positive intent in their previous game against Kolkata to win their second game of the season. They can still look for the positives. Sanju Samson played a gritty knock and his captaincy was good. Rajasthan has the caliber to add one more win. Consistency is a big issue for Rajasthan and they have to maintain this. They have only four overseas players and they cannot make any change to the squad. Rajasthan can pick players through a loan in mid-season transfer. Jaiswal looked better in his first game of the season. Middle-order has stepped up in previous matches but top-order requires some consistency. Jos Buttler needs to fire and he has a tremendous record against Mumbai. Rajasthan defeated defending champions five times in the last six encounters and this record can give them few positives to find their 3rd win of the season. The last time they faced each other, Stokes smashed a hundred to help Rajasthan to chase 190 plus total.
Pitch Report
Delhi’s track is a decent T20 surface and it offers good assistance between bat and ball. Spinners can take extra advantage of the pitch. We may expect a score of 160-170 and chasing would be tricky like Chennai.
Possible XI
Mumbai
Rohit Sharma (c), Quinton de Kock (wk), Suryakumar Yadav, Ishan Kishan, Hardik Pandya, Krunal Pandya, Kieron Pollard, Jayant Yadav, Rahul Chahar, Jasprit Bumrah, Trent Boult
Rajasthan
Jos Buttler, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Sanju Samson (c & wk), David Miller, Shivam Dube, Riyan Parag, Rahul Tewatia, Chris Morris, Jaydev Unadkat, Chetan Sakariya, Mustafizur Rahman
Key Players
Mumbai
Rohit Sharma
Top-scorer for Mumbai, 201 runs at an avg of 40.20
Rahul Chahar
9 wickets so far and a typical bowler to face on this surface
Rajasthan
Jos Buttler
Great average against Mumbai in last two years
Chris Morris
9 wickets from 5 matches and handy runs at down-order
