Mumbai team would like to start with victory, Delhi Capitals will land without many star players

Mumbai Indians will face Delhi Capitals and Punjab Kings will face Royal Challengers Bangalore in the first double header of IPL 2022. The performance of the five-time champion Mumbai team in the last season was not special and the team could not reach the playoffs.

In such a situation, Rohit Sharma's team would like to start the tournament with a win. At the same time, the Rishabh Pant-led Delhi Capitals were knocked out of the playoffs last season. In such a situation, the team would like to continue its excellent performance this year as well.

Mumbai have retained their core team comprising skipper Rohit Sharma, Ishan Kishan, Kieron Pollard and Jasprit Bumrah and the performance of all four will be crucial in this match. The leadership and technical prowess of Rohit, the new captain of India across all formats, is well known. Now it remains to be seen how Rishabh Pant performs for Delhi as a captain, who is being considered as the future captain of India. Mumbai will have to keep a special check on the explosive batsman Pant.

Rohit-Ishan will open

Rohit has already told that he and Ishaan will open the innings. When both are in form, they can tear apart any bowling attack in the world. Delhi bowlers have to be careful about this. Suryakumar Yadav is not available for this match. He is in 'rehabilitation' at NCA. He has been replaced by Fabian Allen.

Mumbai will have to focus on their middle order and lower middle order in which only Pollard is an experienced player. It remains to be seen who amongst Tilak Verma, Tim David and the young South African batsman Dewald Brevis, who is called the 'next AB de Villiers', gets a chance.

Bumrah will lead the pace attack and left-arm pacer Jaydev Unadkat can also be effective on the Brabourne Stadium pitch. Mumbai have effective spinners in Mayank Markandey and Murugan Ashwin.

Pant and Shaw can open

On the other hand, Pant and Prithvi Shaw can open the innings for Delhi as Australia's David Warner is not yet associated with the team. The key to Delhi's performance will lie in the hands of Pant, who will have to lead from the front. West Indies' aggressive batsman Rovman Powell, in-form Sarfaraz Khan and U-19 World Cup winning captain Yash Dhull will be expected to do well in the middle order. All-rounders Shardul Thakur and Axar Patel will play the role of finishers.

Responsibility of getting victory on these players

The spin will be handled by Chinaman bowler Kuldeep Yadav along with Axar. The pace attack will be commanded by South Africa's Anrich Nortje, who will be accompanied by Mustafizur Rahman. Head coach Ricky Ponting can also try young pacer Kamlesh Nagarkoti, who has been doing well in the tournament.

Probable Playing-11

Mumbai: Rohit Sharma (capt), Ishan Kishan (wk), Tilak Verma, Danian Sams/Devalde Brevis, Tim David, Kieron Pollard, Murugan Ashwin, Jasprit Bumrah, Tymal Mills, Jaydev Unadkat, Mayank Markandey.

Delhi: Prithvi Shaw, Tim Seifert, Yash Dhul, Mandeep Singh, Rishabh Pant (c & wk), Rovman Powell, Axar Patel, Shardul Thakur, Kuldeep Yadav, Khaleel Ahmed, Chetan Sakaria.

Teams

Mumbai Indians: Rohit Sharma (captain), Anmolpreet Singh, Rahul Buddhi, Ramandeep Singh, Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Verma, Tim David, Arjun Tendulkar, Basil Thampi, Hrithik Shokeen, Jasprit Bumrah, Jaydev Unadkat, Jofra Archer, Mayank Markandey, Murugan Ashwin , Riley Meredith, Tymal Mills, Arshad Khan, Daniel Sams, Devald Brevis, Fabian Allen, Kieron Pollard, Sanjay Yadav, Aryan Juyal and Ishan Kishan.

Delhi Capitals: Rishabh Pant (Captain), Ashwin Hebbar, David Warner, Mandeep Singh, Prithvi Shaw, Rovman Powell, Anrich Nortje, Chetan Sakaria, Khaleel Ahmed, Kuldeep Yadav, Lungi Ngidi, Mustafizur Rahman, Shardul Thakur, Axar Patel, Kamlesh Nagarkoti , Lalit Yadav, Mitchell Marsh, Praveen Dubey, Ripple Patel, Sarfaraz Khan, Vicky Ostwal, Yash Dhul, KS Bharat, Tim Seifert.