After 52 days and 59 games it has come to this stage where the two best teams of 2020 are going to compete for the trophy. The match between the 4 time winners (MI) versus the team (DC) that has qualified for the first time.
Head to Head
These two teams have played 27 matches in total, out of which MI have won 15 games.
In the last four matches before 2020, DC had won 3 out of the 4 matches played.
This year, MI have dominated DC, winning all three matches.
In the first leg match, MI won by 5 wickets.
In the second leg game. MI won by 9 wickets.
In first qualifier, MI won by 57 runs.
Squads
PLAYERS TO WATCH FOR:
I Kishan: This youngster is the top run-scorer for MI this season. He has scored 483 runs with an average of 53.66 and a strike rate of 144.17. Against DC he has scored 155 runs off 92 balls at a strike rate of 168.47. He has been the nemesis for DC this year and hence his wicket would be one of the most important ones in this match.
Q de Kock: He was the top run-scorer for MI in 2019 and he stands along with I Kishan this year as well. He has scored 483 runs at an average of 37.15 and a strike rate of 139.59. Against Delhi, he has scored 119 runs off 89 balls this year.
S Yadav: He has been an unsung hero for MI for a few years now. This year as well, he is among the top ten run-scorers in IPL and is the third highest run-scorer for MI. He has scored 461 runs at an average of 41.90 and a strike rate of 148.23. Against Delhi he has scored 116 off 81 balls.
J Bumrah: He is arguably the best bowler of IPL 2020, he has picked up 27 wickets at an average of 13.92 at an economy rate of 6.71 and a strike rate of 12.44 . He was principle destructor against DC in the Qualifier 1, he picked up 4 wickets and gave away only 14 runs in it.
K Pollard: He tops the chart of players with highest aggregate strike-rate. He has been in impeccable form this season, he has scored 259 runs at a strike-rate of 190.44. This year he has batted in 11 innings and has got out only 4 times. He hasn't done anything impressive against DC this season but could play a very important role in the finals.
T Boult: He is the third in the list of players with highest wickets. Boult has picked up 22 wickets at an average of 19.40 at an economy rate of 8.00 and a strike rate of 14.54. He picked up 2 wickets in the previous match (Qualifier 1) against DC and gave away only 9 runs in two overs.
PLAYERS TO WATCH FOR:
K Rabada: He is one of the players who have made a major difference for DC this year with maximum wickets this season. He has picked up 29 wickets at an average of 17.79 an economy of 8.23 and a strike rate of 12.96. He picked up 4 wickets against SRH in the Play-off but was taken to the cleaners in the qualifier 1 and ended up being wicket-less in that match against MI.
S Iyer: The Captain of DC has led from the front. After initial hiccups in the tournament, he has been fairly consistent with the bat. Overall, he has scored 454 runs at an average of 30.26 and a strike-rate of 122.37. Against MI, he has scored 79 runs at a meagre average & strike rate of 26.33 &112.85 respectively.
S Dhawan: He has been phenomenal this season. He failed to convert starts into big scores in the first half of the tournament. However, he looked altogether a different player in the second half of it. He can overtake KL Rahul to become the highest run-scorer this year if he ends up scoring 68 runs. Overall, he has scored 603 runs at an average of 46.38 and a strike rate of 145.65. Over the years he has maintained an excellent record against MI - this year he scored 69 in the first leg tie with MI and got out to excellent deliveries in the last two matches. MI needs their bowlers to remove him early have an upper hand in the match from the word go.
M Stoinis: He is an outright match-winner. He is one of those players who can be extremely impactful with the bat and bowl. On his day he can almost single handedly win you a match. He was the man of the match against SRH in play-offs, he scored 38 runs off 27 balls and picked up 3 wickets for 26 runs. Overall this year, he has scored 352 runs at an impressive strike-rate of 149.15. With the ball, he has been expensive but has been amongst the wickets, he has picked up 12 wickets at a very impressive strike-rate of 13.83.
Other Players who could play crucial role in today's match
R Sharma(MI): He hasn't been on song this season but the quality player that he is, he can come good on any day. He has had a very sub-standard record in the eliminators and has a point to prove in this finals.
H Pandya(MI): He along with Pollard have been in amazing form with the bat, with the strike-rate of 182.89 he is second on the list of players with highest aggregate batting strike-rate.
R Ashwin(DC): The willy off-spinner has had his injury issues this year but has been quite effective whenever he has bowled. This being a big match he could play a crucial role in the match. Overall, he has picked up 13 wickets at a decent economy rate of 7.72.
A Patel(DC): He is one of the unsung heroes for DC, He has been extremely economical for them. He has an economy rate of 6.61 which is very impressive and is the only spin-bowler from either side to be in the top ten list of bowlers with best economy rate this year.
S Hetmyer(DC): He was very impressive against SRH in the play-offs and is the player with highest aggregate strike-rate of 150 for DC.
Likely Playing 11
MI:
R Sharma(C), Quinton de Kock(WK), Suryakumar Yadav, Ishan Kishan, Kieron Pollard, Hardik Pandya, K Pandya, Nathan Coulter-Nile/J Pattinson, R Chahar, Trent Boult & J Bumrah
DC:
S Dhawan, M Stoinis, Ajinkya Rahane, S Iyer(C), Rishabh Pant(WK), S Hetmyer, A Patel, R Ashwin, Kagiso Rabada, A Nortje & Pravin Dubey/H Patel.
On paper, both the sides look very strong but if we talk about the players in form MI looks to be in better form. My allegiance like always is with MI but DC is a very good team and has a very good chance to win the title for the first time.