Shamik Chakrabarty
If Mumbai Indians win against Delhi Capitals on Wednesday, they will qualify for the IPL 2025 playoffs at the Delhi-based franchise’s expense. There’s a metaphor attached to this. MI’s turnaround in the tournament started with a jailbreak at Kotla, via three run-outs in the last over. MI had landed in Delhi after losing four of their first five matches. A defeat in that game, and they probably would have reached the point of no return. A big team rose to the challenge in a win-or-bust game.
Mental fortitude separates the champions from also-rans. MI have won the IPL five times. Given an inch – the win against DC in the first leg – they took a mile and went on a six-game winning run. DC’s campaign, on the other hand, gradually went south after a strong start to the tournament. Based on their early season form, they should have qualified for the playoffs with a couple of matches to spare. As things stand, they need to win both their remaining group league fixtures to get there.
DC had a good auction. They changed their coaching staff and brought in Kevin Pietersen, the charismatic former England captain, as team mentor. Developing a collective winning mentally, however, doesn’t happen overnight. This could be DC’s biggest problem against a side that knows how to snatch wins from the jaws of defeats. Remember Corey Anderson’s heroics (95 not out off 44 balls) against Rajasthan Royals at the 2014 IPL that took MI to the playoffs from almost an impossible situation?
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Cut to the present, and the MI side is replete with match-winners. DC’s pace attack, meanwhile, is looking pedestrian in the absence of Mitchell Starc. Mustafizur Rahman, the short-term replacement, is not even poor man’s Starc. “It will matter because he (Starc) is our main fast bowler who bowls at 145 kph, swings the ball and that too at the Wankhede wicket where swing and bounce are available,” Munaf Patel, DC’s bowling coach, said at the pre-match press conference. “It matters 100 per cent, but when there’s no option, you have to think of other alternatives. You can’t get stuck thinking ‘what will happen’?
Will rain play spoilsport? The IMD has issued a yellow alert for Mumbai for the next four days. It has prompted DC co-owner Parth Jindal to request the IPL to relocate the “virtual quarter-final” to a different venue. It’s not going to happen. Also, a truncated game probably will give DC a bigger chance to win against a better side.
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