Mumbai Indians and the Delhi Daredevils will look to take a big step towards positioning themselves as favourites for a playoff spot when the two sides meet in an IPL 2015 match at the Wankhede Stadium on Tuesday.
MI are on a decent winning run of three matches at the moment, having picked up two victories at their fortress Wankhede last week, before putting it past the Kings XI Punjab in Mohali on Sunday.
After a slow start, MI went on a similar run last season to sneak into the playoffs, and it looks like they are on their way to doing it again. Wankhede just seems to give the Mumbai Indians a sense of calm and understanding of what is required, and DD will have to be at their absolute best if they are to make it two wins out of two against MI this season.
The Daredevils pulled off an impressive win over the Mumbai Indians at the Feroz Shah Kotla nearly two weeks back, when they put up a daunting first innings total of 190, thanks to half-centuries from Shreyas Iyer and JP Duminy, before stopping their opponents at 153/9.
That 37-run win is what they will look towards when they face MI, even if it is at the more formidable Wankhede. Runs are always the order of the day in Mumbai's home ground, and expect another run-fest come Tuesday.
MI have won their last two games at the Wankhede – against SRH and RR – and three in total. The batting was quite good at the top for the Mumbai Indians against KXIP in their last game, and if Lendl Simmons and Parthiv Patel give them another sound start at the top, expect some fireworks in the final five overs.
"Every game from now on is a must-win game for us because we got off to a bad start, losing the first few games," Simmons told IPL's official website. "So, we have to win every game, play every game as a final now and that is how we are taking it.
"So, I think we are going about it in a right way. We are getting a good start and our bowlers are coming to the party. It is good thing for us. [We need to[ take it one step at a time and, most importantly, get to the top four to qualify for the playoffs and hopefully we can carry the momentum going forward."
The Daredevils lost a bit of momentum in their last game, when they failed to chase down a big score against the Rajasthan Royals. When the openers and/or JP Duminy don't click, DD seem to struggle for runs. Yuvraj Singh looks like a pale shadow of his former self, while Angelo Mathews has not quite found the form that you usually associate with him in a Sri Lanka shirt.
If DD are to make a run and compete for a playoff spot, they need their middle order – Yuvraj and Mathews, in particular – to step up, because the top three cannot keep scoring the majority of the runs every single time.
Where to Watch Live
The IPL match between Mumbai Indians and Delhi Daredevils is set to begin at 8 pm IST (3.30 pm BST, 10.30 am ET). Sony Max (Hindi commentary), Sony Six (English), Sony Kix (Tamil and Telugu) and Sony Aath (Bengali) will telecast the match live in India, while the live streaming option is on Starsports.com and Hotstar.
UK viewers can tune in to Sky Sports to catch the match action live, while the live stream option is on Sky Go and Watch Sky Sports. Audience in the US can watch MI vs DD Live on ESPN. The game can also be live streamed on ESPN Cricket. Audience across the world can go to Cricketgateway.com to watch this IPL 2015 match online.
