Delhi Capitals face familiar foes Mumbai Indians in their opening match of the TATA IPL 2022 season at the Brabourne Stadium on Sunday.
Led by a charismatic captain in Rishabh Pant, Delhi Capitals will be vying for their maiden IPL title this year with a well-balanced set-up at their disposal.
Delhi have been one of the most consistent teams across the last three editions of the tournament and have managed to make it to the Playoffs each time since 2019 - the only team to do so. They will look to start their campaign on a positive note with a win in their opening encounter.
The MI-DC Rivalry - A Recent History
One of the most closely-contested rivalries in the IPL, Delhi Capitals vs Mumbai Indians always brings about a lot of excitement. At the beginning of the 2020 IPL, the head-to-head record stood at 12-12. Mumbai extended the record to 16-12 at the end of the season, beating DC in the final as well. The Capitals then went on to do the double over MI in 2021 to extract some revenge and take the tally to 16-14.
The last time DC and MI played each other in our season openers, Rishabh Pant blasted an extraordinary 27-ball 78*. We’re in for an absolute treat if the skipper produces something similar, as Delhi fans will hope to begin with a win and further bridge the gap in the head-to-head record against one of the most successful franchises in the league.
Stat Attack
Opening batter Prithvi Shaw will be pivotal for Delhi Capitals at the top of the order. The 22-year-old smashed 479 runs in IPL 2021 with 74% of those runs, a whopping 353 coming in the Powerplay at a strike-rate of 171, the most by any player in the season.
Meanwhile, Rishabh Pant is just 2 runs away from hitting 2500 IPL runs. The southpaw has scored 2498 runs in 84 matches for Delhi, the most by any player for the franchise.
Milestones await Axar Patel and Shardul Thakur as well, with the left-arm orthodox bowler 5 wickets away from 100 IPL scalps, and the Lord just 3 shy of 150 T20 wickets.
Key Battles
Bapu vs The Hitman
Axar Patel is one of the few bowlers in the IPL who can boast of an incredible record against Mumbai Indians’ skipper Rohit Sharma. ‘Bapu’ as Axar is fondly called, has conceded just 33 runs in the 44 balls that he has bowled to him while managing to dismiss him on two instances. He will hold the key for us in the powerplay.
RP17 vs Boom
One of the most flamboyant and destructive batters of the generation versus one of the best death bowlers in world cricket - this battle is mouth-watering even without any further build up from our end.
As another IPL season begins, the DC family is ready to ROAR. Are you ready to ROAR with us?
