Mumbai have to earn their lifeline versus canny Ashwin

Delhi Capitals, who are second on the table with 16 points, take on arch rivals Mumbai Indians in the day game at Sharjah today and have a good chance to knock outof-form Mumbai out of the tournament.

Mumbai, who are currently on 10 points with a negative run-rate, need to win their next three matches to have a realistic chance of making it to the play-offs and will need to get past Delhi’s spinners - who will enjoy bowling on the slow and low wickets of Sharjah.

Last year, the average score at Sharjah was 170 but this year it has dropped to 130 and spinners have played a major role. Delhi have three spinners in Axar Patel, Lalit Yadav and, most importantly, Ravichandran Ashwin, who has been under the radar since his altercation with Eoin Morgan in their last match against KKR. Even though Ashwin got the better of Morgan by dismissing England’s white ball captain for a duck, Delhi still lost the game and it must be hurting Ashwin the most.

Mumbai have three lefthanders in Quinton De Cock, Saurabh Tiwary and Krunal Pandya and Ashwin’s record against left handers is exceptional in all formats and I won’t be surprised if Rishab Pant brings Ashwin to bowl in the Powerplay to counter the lefthanders. Delhi had beaten Mumbai in the India leg easily but had faced three loses in the UAE last year, most importantly the finals which helped Mumbai win their fifth IPL title.

Knockout punch

This is Delhi’s best chance to give Mumbai the knockout punch as Rohit Sharma’s men are a dangerous side once they make it to the play-offs. Most of the Mumbai batsmen look out of touch, especially Suryakumar Yadav, who was bowled first ball by Ravi Bishnoi of Punjab Kings and will be under pressure going into this game. If the pitch behaves the same way as the earlier games, Delhi definitely have an edge over Mumbai when it comes to spinners.

If Mumbai have to have any chance of having a dart at their sixth title, they have to decode Ashwin to get past Delhi Capitals.