Delhi Capitals search for the perfect game in reverse fixture against Mumbai Indians

What to expect

Both teams are on six points and occupy the top two spots on the points table (before the RCB-GG match). MI have now won three on the trot, and the only match they lost this season was their opening fixture against the same opponents in Vadodara. There are a few cracks in the side – one of the main ones being Yastika Bhatia‘s form – but Nat Sciver-Brunt has made sure to cover it all up. Be it with the bat or the ball, she’s delivered in almost all games so far and has been key in all their wins. Hayley Matthews is going through a lean patch with the bat too; her 59 off 50 against UP Warriorz was scratchy at best. But there have been others who have chimed in too, including the Indian youngsters in the side.

DC, meanwhile, have been up and down but are coming off an easy win against Gujarat Giants. Everything came together for them in that game and the move to promote Jess Jonassen to No. 3 also paid off. Their captain, Meg Lanning, however, is yet to fire this season. Before this season, she averaged 48.50 in five innings against MI in the WPL, will Lanning find her form against one of her favourite opponents?

This clash is also pits two pedigreed new-ball bowlers against each other – DC’s Marizanne Kapp and Shikha Pandey vs MI’s Shabnim Ismail and Sciver-Brunt.

Form guide

Delhi Capitals WLW (last three matches, most recent first)
Mumbai Indians WWW

Team news

Expect DC to go in with the same line-up

Delhi Capitals (probable XI): 1 Shafali Verma, 2 Meg Lanning (capt), 3 Jemimah Rodrigues, 4 Annabel Sutherland, 5 Marizanne Kapp, 6 Jess Jonassen, 7 Sarah Bryce (wk), 8 Niki Prasad, 9 Minnu Mani, 10 Titas Sadhu, 11 Shikha Pandey

Given Jintimani Kalita bowled just the one over in the last outing, she could be replaced by left-arm spinner Parunika Sisodia

Mumbai Indians (probable XI): 1 Hayley Matthews, 2 Yastika Bhatia (wk), 3 Nat Sciver-Brunt, 4 Harmanpreet Kaur (capt), 5 Amelia Kerr, 6 S Sajana, 7 G Kamalini, 8 Amanjot Kaur, 9 Sanskriti Gupta, 10 Shabnim Ismail, 11 Parunika Sisodia/ Jintimani Kalita

Players to watch: Jess Jonassen and Sanskriti Gupta

Jess Jonassen showed her value as an allrounder in the match against Giants. Coming in at No. 3 after Lanning’s dismissal, she targeted the square boundary and plundered 61 off 32 balls. She put on a 74-run stand off just 37 balls with Shafali Verma and wrapped up the match in a hurry. In the loss against UPW too, she had contributed with the ball, finishing with figures of 4 for 31 which included the wickets of Chinelle Henry and Deepti Sharma.

Sanskriti Gupta produced a spell of 2 for 11 in her two overs against UPW, where she dismissed Tahlia McGrath and the set Vrinda Dinesh with her offspin. She varied her speed to great effect, even having McGrath bowled with a 95.1kph yorker. Bought at the auction by MI for INR 10 lakh, Sanskriti had been key in Madhya Pradesh’s title win in the Senior Women’s One Day Trophy, finishing with 16 wickets in nine games. She’ll want to continue to make an impression in the MI line-up to cement her spot in the XI.