IPL 2020 Qualifier 1: Defending Champs MI Lock Horns With DC For Place In Grand Finale

The IPL 2020 Qualifier 1 between Delhi Capitals and Mumbai Indians is scheduled to commence at 7:30 pm (IST) with the toss slated to be held at 7:00 pm (IST).

Defending champions Mumbai Indians (MI) will lock horns against Delhi Capitals (DC) in the Qualifier 1 of the play-offs in season thirteen of the Indian Premier League (IPL 2020) at the Dubai International Stadium in Dubai later on Thursday evening. The IPL 2020 Qualifier 1 between Delhi Capitals and Mumbai Indians is scheduled to commence at 7:30 pm (IST) with the toss slated to be held at 7:00 pm (IST). A win for either teams (DC or MI) will secure them a place in the finals of the marquee Indian T20 league. A loss won't hurt either as they will get a second chance to make it to the summit clash by taking on the winner of 'Eliminator 2' between Royal Challengers Bangalore and Sunrisers Hyderabad. Mumbai Indians secured a berth in the playoffs by topping the round robin stage of the tournament, winning ten out of their fourteen matches. Meanwhile, Delhi Capitals also booked a spot in the knockouts by finishing second on the points table. Mumbai Indians will have the edge over Delhi Capitals going into the knockouts as they have gelled together more consistently as a unit both in their batting and bowling department all through the season. MI batting lineup has fired consistently all through the round robin fixtures with South African opener Quinton De Kock spearheading their batting efforts with 443 runs in 14 games. Top order batsmen in Suryakumar Yadav, Ishan Kishan and Saurav Tiwari and have all chipped in team's wins with meaningful contributions. The cutting edge weapon in the Mumbai Indians' batting order has been the destructive power hitting by their finishers Kieron Pollard and Hardik Pandya who have not only provided the late impetus to post mammoth totals but also finished off quite a few nerve wrecking chases MI's well rounded bowling unit has complimented the efforts of their batsmen by defending some totals. The seam duo of Jasprit Bumrah (23) and Trent Boult (20) have been lethal both with the new ball and at the death, chipping away with wickets at crucial stages of games. The support cast in James Pattinson, Nathan Coutler Nile and Kieron Pollard has been good too. MI's spin armoury has played their part with Rahul Chahar and Krunal Pandya bowling some economical spells in the middle overs all through the tournament. Delhi Capitals have been a tad inconsistent after faring really well in the first half of the league stage. After notching up seven wins, DC went downhill by suffering a spree of losses but recovered timely to beat Royal Challengers Bangalore and book the second spot in the play-offs . Iyer-led Delhi Capitals will need a collective batting effort by their frontline batsmen who with the exception of opener Shikhar Dhawan and skipper Shreyas Iyer. The DC middle order in Rishabh Pant, Shimron Hetmyer and Marcus Stoinis need to deliver with the willow best against a potent MI bowling unit. There certainly are worries over the batting form of Prithvi Shaw and Ajinkya Rahane, who both havent been able to score consistently in the round robin stages of the tournament. Delhi's bowling unit has been second to none with their South African seam duo of Kagiso Rabada (25) and Anrich Nortje (19) being among the wickets. The DC spinners Ravichandran Ashwin (10) and Axar Patel (8) haven't been bad either but will need to be much better than what they have been against a power packed MI batting unit. Here are the full squads for Mumbai Indians and Delhi Capitals in IPL 2020 Mumbai Indians: Rohit Sharma (captain), Aditya Tare, Anmol preet 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, Ishant Sharma, 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, Amit Mishra, Anrich Nortje, Daniel Sams