IPL 2020 Grand Finale - Will this IPL season have a new winner or the defending champions defend the title?

 

                     This season of Indian Premier League again confirmed that IPL is the best cricket league in the world. Almost every teams fought hard till the last league match to seal their position in the top four and provided us a great game of cricket and great entertainment. Now this fierce season almost reached it's end as today the grand final of IPL 2020 takes place. In this exciting clash, Mumbai Indians and Delhi Capitals will turn up the heat in Dubai which is already hot.

Match preview

                       The defending champions Mumbai Indians have showed to everyone why they are considered one of the best teams in IPL history with their magnificent performance as team. I stressed as a team because they reached final not by individual brilliance. Each and every key player delivered what they are expected to do. Mumbai Indians all their three matches against Delhi Capitals. They are fresh by their comfortable win against Delhi Capitals in Qualifier 1 and pumped up to lift the trophy two consecutive years and turn around their fortunes in even numbered years. Will they have a 100% win record against DC this year like they had in previous year against CSK? Let's see what happens.

                        On the other hand, Delhi Capitals is a new entrant to IPL finals. They are playing their first ever IPL final today after an exceptional performance both with the bat and ball against Sunrisers Hyderabad in Qualifier 2. As believed before the start of season, DC proved that they are a strong team by reaching the tough step before bagging the IPL 2020 title. They had a slight downfall in the second half of the season due to injuries and failure of key players. Inspite of losing badly in the Qualifier 1, they regained the momentum by a good win against SRH in Qualifier 2. But their concern is that they lost three matches against Mumbai Indians. But they will definitely look forward to turn around this in the epic final today. Will they sculpt their name in the trophy? Let's wait and see.

Image credits: The Indian Express

Concerns for Mumbai Indians

                      They almost tick every boxes. Their only concern is the spin bowling department as they are lacking a experienced spinner in their line up. If Rahul Chahar went for runs, it will be difficult for them to restrict the opponent to a low score. Also their strike bowler, Trent Boult suffered an injury in Qualifier 1. But he recovered and will mostly be available. In an interview today, Rohit Sharma revealed that Jayant Yadav, an off spinner might play today as DC has three explosive left handers. Will it work? Let's see.

Concerns for Delhi Capitals

                      As we mentioned in our previous articles, opening was a major concern for DC throughout the season. But they mostly sorted out this by sending Marcus Stoinis to open the innings with Shikhar Dhawan in Qualifier 2 and it clicked well for them. Another major concern is their death bowling. Inspite of two top pace guns, they have conceded more runs in the death even in Qualifier 1. Will they able to sort out this and restrict the explosive lower order of Mumbai Indians? Let's wait and see. 

Pitch report

Dubai is mainly batsmen friendly. In this high pressure game, batting first and posting a total above 180 will do some favours.

Performances in Dubai

• MI played 7 matches in Dubai and won 2 out of it.
• DC played 10 matches in Dubai and won 5 out of it.

Venue wise DC has a slight upper hand.

Overall head to head record

Both met in 27 matches, in that MI won 15 matches and DC won 12 matches.

Players to watch out for

Mumbai Indians

• Rohit Sharma: Playing his 200th match in IPL. As this year is a bit on and off for him, he will look forward to make a great impact today and also wipe out the remark that he don't perform in crucial matches. Crucial for MI to post and chase a big total. If a team's captain performs well, it will definitely up the morale of the team. Will Rohit perform?

• Hardik Pandya: Crucial for MI to post a big total if they lost early wickets and for providing an explosive end to their innings.

• Surya Kumar Yadav: Crucial for MI to anchor the innings and tackle DC spinners as he is a good player of spin.

• Jasprit Bumrah: Crucial for MI to get the openers quickly and put pressure on DC's middle order. He is also crucial for bowling in high pressure situations.

Delhi Capitals:

• Marcus Stoinis: Crucial for propelling DC to a big total as today also he will open the innings. He is an useful bowler too and if he got some breakthrough, it will be a great pressure relief for the other bowlers.

• Shreyas Iyer: Crucial to anchor the innings and hit explosive sixes against spinners. He will be more crucial if Jayant Yadav play today as he is more comfortable against off spinners.

• Kagiso Rabada: Crucial for DC to expose MI's lower order as early as possible.

• Ravichandran Ashwin: Crucial for DC to pick MI's deadly left handers and to pick Rohit Sharma's wicket in the powerplay.

Possible matchups

• Rohit Sharma and Ravichandran Ashwin

Possible upper hand: Ravichandran Ashwin

• Anrich Nortje and Quinton De Cock

Possible upper hand: Quinton De Cock

• Marcus Stoinis and Rahul Chahar

Possible upper hand: Marcus Stoinis

• Trent Boult and Shikhar Dhawan

Possible upper hand: Trent Boult

Possible playing 11

Mumbai Indians

Rohit Sharma (c), Quinton De Cock (wk), Surya Kumar Yadav, Ishan Kishan, Kieron Pollard, Hardik Pandya, Jayant Yadav, Nathan Coulter Nile, Rahul Chahar, Trent Boult, Jasprit Bumrah

Delhi Capitals

Marcus Stoinis, Shikhar Dhawan, Ajinkya Rahane, Shreyas Iyer (c), Rishabh Pant (wk), Shimron Hetmyer, Axar Patel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Praveen Dube, Kagiso Rabada, Anrich Nortje.

Prize money for winners: 10 Crores.

Prize money for runners: 6.25 Crores.

Prize money for RCB and SRH: 4.375 Crores for each.

Today's English word

Bandy

This means passing on or discussing an idea casually.

Sentence Usage

Rohit bandied his idea of bowling wide to MS Dhoni to Rahul Chahar.

Let's all learn together and enlighten others.

                                Thank you.

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