Daredevils, Mumbai seek to get out of rut

Thursday, April 23, 2015
Start time 2000 local (1430 GMT)

Struggling for momentum, struggling for form, struggling to win. That's the story of Delhi Daredevils and Mumbai Indians so far in the IPL. Both teams have put their distinct losing streaks behind them. Daredevils put a lid on their line of 11 consecutive losses and Mumbai finally won a match after losing their first four.

The hosts, though, have to put another number behind them - Daredevils have nine consecutive losses at the Feroz Shah Kotla - and they still need to find solutions to plenty of problems. Their batsmen threw wickets away in their last match and have not fired collectively - in three games batting first, they have scored more than 180 only once. Their middle order appears too reliant on JP Duminy and Yuvraj Singh, while the other international star, Angelo Mathews, has scored 76 runs in four innings and Kedar Jadhav has 54 from four.

They have two of the best legspinners of the tournament in Amit Mishra and Imran Tahir, and Nathan Coulter-Nile has led their pace attack with extra bounce, wickets and a not-so-expensive economy of 7.47. Their bowling is much more settled and the team has effected 33 wickets in five matches, but can their batting match up?

Mumbai's win over Royal Challengers Bangalore gives them an edge. Their batting has picked up momentum, but the top six haven't been able to pitch in collectively. To win more matches, their bowling will also need to stop leaking runs and restrict oppositions to chaseable scores. In their win against Royal Challengers , they conceded 191. Not a single Mumbai bowler has conceded at less than 7.80 runs per over so far. They can, however, take heart from the recent performances of their senior bowlers. Harbhajan Singh and Lasith Malinga are coming into their element and both had important performances in the win against Royal Challengers

With two ducks in four matches, and one sole cameo against Chennai Super Kings, Ambati Rayudu hasn't proved his selection in the XI yet. Since Mumbai keep tinkering with their line-up, don't be surprised if he comes up the order soon and unleashes a blitzkrieg.

With only one fifty under his belt, the pressure on Yuvraj Singh will be mounting, with more pressure on Duminy in the middle order. The captain has also chipped in with wickets, while Yuvraj's attempts with the ball have not yielded any wickets yet. An average of 24 and strike rate of 127.65 is very uncharacteristic for the batsman, with the murmurs about his form getting louder after the amount he fetched at the auction.