An inconsistent Delhi Daredevils will look to break the home jinx when they take on struggling Mumbai Indians in their sixth match of the IPL cricket tournament at Feroz Shah Kotla on Thursday. Defending champions Kolkata Knight Riders on Monday inflicted a six-wicket loss on Delhi, handing them their ninth straight home defeat since 2013.
Earlier the Jean-Paul Duminy-led side had bounced back with two wins after two opening losses to snap their 11-match losing streak. Winning two of their four close encounters in this season, DD looked like a well-balanced side until defending champions KKR exposed their weaknesses.
With a mix of youth and experience, the batting seemed to respond well with the likes of Mayank Agarwal, Shreyas Iyer, Duminy and Yuvraj Singh coming good in the initial games. But Iyer, Yuvraj and Manoj Tiwary squandered away decent starts against a potent KKR attack. Even the bowling, which had looked impactful with Imran Tahir, Amit Mishra and Nathan Coulter-Nile picking wickets, phased out against the strong KKR line-up, led by skipper Gautam Gambhir.
Assistant coach Praveen Amre, however, remained optimistic and termed this failure as a one-odd outing. He promised the team would once again get back to winning ways against their fierce city rivals.
"We still have three games here and the two away wins were also important for us. I think the next game we play against Mumbai Indians will be very important for us," said the former India cricketer.
Mumbai, on the other hand, have had a terrible run in season eight so far with four losses and a single win in their five games.
The bottom-placed side did come good in their previous match against Royal Challengers Bangalore but were tested even after posting 209 runs on the board after batting first. The top-order though did come good against RCB with Lendl Simmons and Unmukt Chand getting fifties and skipper Rohit Sharma also hitting a valuable 15-ball 42.
Veteran off-spinner Harbhajan Singh is also in top form after picking 8 wickets from 4 games, a rank behind top wicket-taker Tahir (10 scalps in 5 matches). Not to forget Bhajji's value with the bat after the lower-order tonker hit 24-ball 64 in a losing cause against Kings XI Punjab.
With the two sides going with a 5-all head-to-head record in the 21st match of the season, Delhi appears to be better on paper with their current record and league standing but with the two cities having a history of fierce rivalry on and off the field, the fans should await an exciting encounter.
