IPL 9: All eyes on De Kock as in-form DD face giants from Mumbai

New Delhi On a roll after a poor start Delhi Daredevils would look to complete a hattrick of victories with yet another impressive performance on home turf when they take on defending champions Mumbai Indians in an Indian Premier League encounter here tomorrowDelhi Daredevils batsman Quinton De Kock raises his bat after scoring 100 against Royal Challengers Bangalore Pic AFPAfter the loss to Kolkata Knight Riders by nine wickets in their tournament opener the Daredevils bounced back strongly riding on the batting display to comfortably beat Kings XI Punjab and Royal Challengers Bangalore in their next two gamesThe Daredevils are presently third in the league standings with four points from three games while the Mumbai Indians are placed fifth with two wins and three losses from five matchesMumbai Indians so far has had a mixed bag having won two games against Kings XI Punjab and Royal Challengers Bangalore while losing three matches in a lousy fashion The Rohit Sharmaled side suffered defeats against Rising Pune Supergiants Gujarat Lions ad Sunrisers HyderabadAfter a flop show in their opening match Daredevils batting came to party in the last game against RCB In the first match against Kolkata Knight Riders Daredevils were shot out for 98 and then went untested in the second game against Kings XI Punjab as the target was a meagre112But in the last game RCB the 9th season of IPL witnessed its maiden century when South Africa opener Quinton de Kock blazed his way to 108 off just 51 deliveries to guide Rahul Dravids men to a sevenwicket win over RCB while chasing an imposing 192run targetBesides De Kock young Karun Nair also played a pivotal role with an unbeaten 54 off 42 balls and come tomorrow the duo would hope to carry on their good form against the Mumbai IndiansBut what would worry Daredevils coach Dravid most is that besides De Kock and Nair the teams batting lineup is relatively untested Delhis fortune will also depend on the performances of JP Duminy and big buys like Pawan Negi and Carlos Brathwaite who are capable enough to win matches for their teamBrathwaite became the toast of the cricketing world after hitting Englands Ben Stokes for four consecutive sixes to win the ICC World T20 final for the West Indies would like to make a big impact in the tournamentOn the bowling front Daredevils has experience with captain Zaheer Khan leading the pack and showing that there is still plenty left in his armoury While Chris Morris has been economical upfront Mohammad Shami leaked a few runs despite picking up two wickets in his comeback IPL game after a long layoffCurrently Indias best legspinner Amit Mishra has time and again risen upto the occasion and will be leading Daredevils spin department in company of Pawan NegiMisfiring Mumbai Indians on the other hand intially struggled to get their team combination right but they did come good with a convincing chase of 170 plus score against Virat Kohlis RCBTwotime title winners MI have slumped to defeats in both their home matches this season to IPL debutants Rising Pune Supergiants and Gujarat Lions but they would be taking heart from the fact that their away campaign has so far been impressiveMumbais toporder batting has been miserable so far barring captain Rohit Sharma who was instrumental in both their wins scoring superb halfcenturiesBut in the other three games the leading batsmen have failed to click as a unit Martin Guptill who replaced injured Lendl Simmons failed to live upto the expectations in his first game against Sunrisers Hyderabad prompting Mumbai team management to drop him against RCB in the last matchGuptill was dropped against RCB and a fitagain Kieron Pollard made an immediate impact with a matchwinning 19ball39 not out Englishman Jos Buttler and India discard Ambati Rayudu are getting starts but it is bighitting Pollard who can make a difference While Hardik Pandya has been offcolour his brother Krunal Pandya grabbed his opportunities with both hands by making an impact with both bat and ballIn the absence of their everreliable Sri Lankan slinger Lasith Malinga Mumbai Indians have depended upon the New Zealand duo of Tim Southee and Mitchell McClenaghan to make early inroads and this combination is expected to continue against RCBTeams From Delhi Daredevils Zaheer Khan C Quinton de Kock JP Duminy Mayank Agarwal Shreyas Iyer Carlos Brathwaite KarunNair Pawan Negi Rishabh Pant Sanju Samson Pawan Suyal Jayant Yadav Chris Morris Sam Billings Nathan CoulterNile Imran Tahir Mahipal Lomor Chama Milind Amit Mishra Mohammed Shami Shahbaz Nadeem Khaleel Ahmed Akhil Herwadkar Pratyush SinghMumbai Indians Rohit Sharma C Parthiv Patel Hardik Pandya Jos Buttler Mitchell McClenaghan Ambati Rayudu Kieron Pollard Harbhajan Singh Jagadeesha Suchith Tim Southee Jasprit Bumrah Shreyas Gopal R Vinay Kumar Corey Anderson Unmukht Chand Marchant de Lange Siddhesh Lad Kishore Kamath Krunal Pandya Deepak Punia Nitish Rana Jitesh Sharma Nathu Singh Akshay Wakhare Martin Guptill