Cricket News By TODAYLIVESCORE.INFO - Live Cricket Score - MI vs DC, Match 46, IPL 2021. Can MI make their step up to fourth today?
Can MI make their step up to fourth today?
Hello and welcome to our LIVE Blog for #MIvDC. As always, tweet in your views, ideas, pleas and frustrations to @PrakashG_CB. We'll feature the best (and quirkiest!) on this live blog!
Rohit falls early!
Rohit faced some serious heat against Anrich Nortje in the first over – spitting fire at 145kmph. So the first chance at swinging his bat at a short ball gave Rohit a glint in the eye. He went for it, but Avesh Khan came at him with considerable pace too and a top edge flew to Rabada at third man.
How soon will we see spin into the picture against MI today?
There's a case for it to be very soon. In this season, Mumbai Indians have lost 23 wickets to spin, the most for the season and have scored at just 6.59 against them – the lowest for the season.
Here's a great Jayant Yadav stat that our resident numbers man, Deepu Narayanan has just pinged:
Since joining MI in 2019, this is Jayant Yadav's eighth appearance – five of them have come against DC: 0/25 in Delhi, 2019; 0/18 in Dubai, 2020; 1/25 in Dubai, 2020; 1/25 in Chennai, 2021
TOSS: Delhi Capitals win toss, opt to bowl. BIG news is Prithvi Shaw returns and Steve Smith plays too. Lalit Yadav misses out. Mumbai Indians bring in Jayant Yadav for Rahul Chahar.
Qualifications watch…
If MI & CSK win their respective matches today, CSK will be assured of a top-two finish as only one of RCB/DC will be able to reach 20 points.
Ground dimensions at Sharjah
Based on the pitch they're playing on today, one side of the square boundary is 61m and the other is 69m. Expect teams to exploit this imbalance.
Prelude – The tale of the resurgent MI
Mumbai Indians are a feisty lot. We've been told so…repeatedly. And there's enough evidence of it being true. IPL's history is littered with a few such examples. Against all odds? MI bounce back. Backs to the walls? MI kick back. Little or no hope of playoffs qualification? MI go on a wild run… and even with the tournament. They're the great yin to CSK's yang – who just can't stop making it to the playoffs** (** except last season).
Their most recent instalment of Project Dramatic Recovery got offered a massive shot in the arm last night, when PBKS, of all teams, held their nerve at the death to actually WIN (Who would've though?!) and in the process, inconvenience a fellow fighter for top 4. So perfectly it played out for MI, that they now have two teams above them on as many points as them (10) but having played an extra game. That's KKR and PBKS, who, for today, will turn into Delhi Capitals fans. A win tonight will drag MI back to fourth, and with a two-point lead over the chasing pack. This sounds like the kind of game where MI suddenly turn up and function like the collective cog that has five titles in their overflowing trophy cabinet.
Then there's DC. The finalists from last year. They too reaped benefits of last night's events, securing another playoffs qualification with three more fixture (including the one coming up) to play. It's hard to follow up on a season when they've exceeded expectations and gone all the way to the finals, but they've done it anyway. A win tonight won't exactly count as revenge for last year's title clash, but there must be some level of motivation (schaudenfreude-fuelled) to keep MI stuck at sixth just when they had the chance to step up.
All in all, a tasty fixture coming up, so strap on!
