Resurgent Delhi Capitals bid for their first IPL title against powerful Mumbai Indians

It is the final of the Indian Premier League season for 2020, and we have the two teams to have won the most number of matches in the tournament battling out for the crown. If “fairness” was what the league format intended to produce, the two best teams in the Dream11 IPL 2020 have rightly made it to the last hurdle. While the Mumbai Indians will be looking to become only the second team in IPL history to retain the title, the Delhi Capitals will be vying for their first-ever silverware.

The Delhi Capitals finally seem to have stopped the rut of batting demises with the promotion of Marcus Stoinis up the order. The Aussie all-rounder has been in fine fettle putting up consistently good performances throughout Dream11 IPL 2020, and opening the innings with him was a shrewd move from the Capitals which worked out well for them. An 86-run opening stand against the team to have picked up the most wickets in the tournament set the tone for the Delhi innings in their qualifier game against the Sunrisers Hyderabad. The inclusion of Shimron Hetmyer proved to be a masterstroke as it allowed the batsmen above him in the order to bat with gay abandon.

Kagiso Rabada rarely fails to end an innings with “0” under the wickets column. It is no surprise that the Capitals’ losing streak coincided with the few games that were underwhelming by his own lofty standards. With Stoinis contributing even with the ball, and bowling all-rounders running up to No.9 in their lineup, Delhi rarely fail to produce inferior quality 20 overs. Despite their best spinner in R Ashwin going for runs, the Capitals had enough bowling depth to paper over the cracks against the Sunrisers and run out victors by 17 runs.

The Mumbai Indians look almost invincible. They have produced an aura unmatched by the rest of the league. When you play against a certain team, you tend to pick out certain chinks in their armor which you hone in on to your advantage. Against Mumbai in 2020, there seems to be none such chinks. A well-rounded bowling lineup with their fast bowlers who would, if replaced in an international team, could produce the goods without any trouble. Similarly, their batting has shown no discernibly exploitable weaknesses. For once the Capitals appeared to have had them on the mat in the first qualifier at 101/4 with more than 7 overs to go, only for MI to come back and score 99 more runs off the next 46 balls. If that does not prove the incredible confidence and strength in the Mumbai line-up, nothing will.

Mumbai Indians are the only team the Capitals are yet to beat in the tournament. On all three occasions, the Mumbai Indians have easily dispatched the Delhi challenge and will be confident of doing so again. However, Delhi have shown incredible ability in not letting previous defeats get to them, and have made their first-ever final in the history of the IPL. Neither team would be willing to give an inch, and that makes for a title-decider worth being glued to our screens for.