For both sides, this will be their penultimate group stage game and victory for Mumbai Indians will see them claim fourth place and eliminate Delhi Capitals. On the other hand, if Axar Patel’s side can come out on top, then they will jump ahead of Mumbai by one point and the race will go down to the wire.
Neither team won their last game with Hardik Pandya’s side seeing their six-match winning streak brought to an end by a combination of Gujarat Titans and rain breaks in a three-wicket (DLS) defeat. That fixture took place prior to the suspension of the tournament and it will have been over a fortnight without a game for Mumbai by the time of this match!
Delhi Capitals returned to action on Sunday and despite an unbeaten century from KL Rahul went down by ten wickets with six balls remaining to Gujarat.
That means that they will come into this game without a win from their last four (NR1, L3) and knowing that the run must come to an end if they are to have a chance of progression.
Why Mumbai Indians can win
When these sides met in mid-April it was Mumbai Indians who came out on top by 12 runs as they kick-started their winning run. A 33-ball 59 from Tilak Sharma, alongside 41 from Ryan Rickelton and 40 from Suryakumar Yadav saw Mumbai post 205/5 before Karn Sharma (3/36) and Mitchell Santner (2/43) played their part with the ball.
That victory made it four wins for Mumbai from their last five H2Hs (L1) and nine from the last 13 H2Hs so they are unlikely to be too concerned by taking on Delhi once again.
Mumbai have also not had to contend with any international player departures between the suspension and the resumption, so the same group who took them on their winning run will still be together for this and their final match of this stage.
Why Delhi Capitals can win
With their recent form so poor, Delhi Capitals will be hoping that Mumbai’s narrow defeat against Gujarat 15 days earlier is still playing on their minds in this clash!
If not, then they will be looking at their centurion from the weekend, KL Rahul, to produce the goods once again, but this time in a winning cause.
Rahul has hit 493 runs in total this season at an average of 61.62 and only Tristan Stubbs, who has 280 at 56.00, is averaging over 31.00 across the side.
Stubbs remains available until the end of the group stage and he will want both remaining games to have something riding on them as he looks to add to unbeaten scores of 21 and 41 so far this month.
With the ball, new signing Mustafizur Rahman produced the best economy rate of the wicketless six-man attack on Sunday and Delhi will be looking to him to find his radar from last season when he took 14 wickets with a strike-rate of 14.7 for Chennai Super Kings.
Venue and conditions
Heavy rain has been lashing Mumbai in recent weeks and the India Meteorological Department says it’s likely to persist right through Wednesday and Thursday, putting this game into great peril.
If the rain does subside for long enough to get a game away, it’s just as hard to predict what kind of surface will be produced with the pitches under covers for lengthy periods of time leading up to the match.
The average run rate at Wankhede Stadium this season is 9.13rpo but the lead-up rain and the high likelihood of a shortened match means that may not be an indication of what is to come.
Player stats
• Karn Sharma vs KL Rahul in the IPL: 1/9 from eight balls.
• Jasprit Bumrah vs Abishek Sharma in the IPL: 1/14 from 20 balls.
• Kuldeep Yadav vs Tilak Varma in the IPL: 0/57 from 32 balls.
• Axar Patel has gone wicketless in eight of his 11 innings during the 2025 IPL.
• Suryakumar Yadav averages 54.67 across his four previous innings at this venue in the IPL.
Written by Tom Penn (X: @LePinchHitter)