MI’s Trent Boult and Jasprit Bumrah bat in the nets during a training session. Courtesy: Twitter

Mohammad Abdullah, Staff Reporter

Defending champions Mumbai Indians (MI) will look to clinch a record fifth Indian Premier League (IPL) title when they take on Delhi Capitals in the final in Dubai on Tuesday.

Mumbai are favourites to win the title against a rampant Delhi, who have never laid their hands on the glittering trophy. This is Delhi’s best finish in 13 seasons. They have never reached a final before.

Mumbai, who lifted it in 2013, 2015, 2017 and 2019, are in stellar form and from the beginning and they were the first team to qualify for the knockouts. They will go into the match with a psychological advantage, having beaten Delhi by nine wickets in their last meeting.

A ruthless bowling show by Trent Boult (2-9) and Jasprit Bumrah (4-14) helped Mumbai rout a lacklustre Delhi by 57 runs in the first qualifier. After posting a mammoth 200 runs for the loss of five wickets, Mumbai restricted Delhi to 143/8.

Quinton de Kock is leading Mumbai’s star-studded batting line-up. De Kock, Ishan Kishan and Suryakumar Yadav are in sublime touch and will look to give their best shots in the final.

Rohit needs to get into the groove as early as possible after coming back from injury. Kieron Pollard, Hardik and Krunal Pandya can play big shots toward the end to propel the score to a big total.

Boult and Bumrah will look to emulate their feat and rip through the inconsistent Delhi’s batting line-up. Rahul Chahar, Pollard and Krunal have also been impressive, reducing the pressure from the pace duo. Mumbai skipper Rohit was full of adulation for his team.

“It is not rocket science. We have worked really hard for this balance, all these players. All these players were available for all the teams,” said Rohit.

“Right from Quinton De Kock to number 11, Jasprit Bumrah all these players were available for all the squad but we invested in them in the beginning and we had faith in them. A lot of credit goes to the Mumbai Indian team management and the scouts.

“They have done a great job with all these guys. Making sure that they get all the comfort and the backing otherwise it is not possible to have a squad like that. All these guys have adapted to that really well this is why today we stand in this position, where we qualified much before the other teams,” he concluded.

Meanwhile, Delhi have also put up a clinical performance to oust Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in the second qualifier after having lost four matches on the trot that had put their qualification in peril albeit briefly.

They put up a ruthless batting show led by Shikhar Dhawan and Marcus Stoinis. After posting a mammoth 189/3 and restricting Hyderabad to 172/8. Dhawan smashed the fourth fifty of the season while Stoinis scored a quick-fire 38 and took three wickets also. Kagiso Rabada took a hat-trick to lead the rout.

Delhi’s batting had been inconsistent throughout the IPL. Of late, they were struggling with the opening partnership.  

However, by promoting Stoinis in the opening slot with Dhawan, they seemed to have found the right opening combination sans Prithvi Shaw, who registered four zeroes. In the middle order, Rishabh Pant has failed to deliver since returning from an injury. Shreyas Iyer will have to shoulder the burden and set the tone for a big total.

Delhi’s strength has been their bowling.  The South African pace duo of Rabada and Anrich Nortje has been spearheading the bowling charge quite effectively. Rabada is the highest wicket-taker with 29 scalps in 16 games while Nortje picked up 20 from 15 matches to play a vital role in Delhi’s run-up to the final. They are complemented by the spin duo of Axar Patel and Ravichandran Ashwin. Having lost their sublime touch in the middle, both Rabada and Nortje seem to have regained their form. That is good news.

Squads:

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 (captain), Kagiso Rabada, Marcus Stoinis, Sandeep Lamichhane, 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, AnrichNortje, Daniel Sams