Hyderabad: At an unprecedented time when everything looks so unpredictable owing to the COVID-19 pandemic, the field of sports and its athletes have met their worst ever nightmare for being deprived of competitive sports. The Olympics Games, Euro 2020 and World T20 are among some of the biggest sporting events that fell victim to the deadly disease this year. They have either been cancelled or rescheduled for next year.
However, commercially beneficial leagues and tournaments found a way out for survival. In 2019-2020 football leagues across Europe have finished at later than usual time but managed to resume proceedings for a new season. Yet, Euro Cup 2020 has been postponed to 2021.
Similarly, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) carved out nearly two months to host Indian Premier League (IPL) 2020, which is originally a festivity of Indian summer, in three UAE cities between September 19 and November 10. But citing the fear of COVID-19 infection the World T20, scheduled to be played in Australia in October-November, was cancelled to make way for IPL. And Cricket Australia and BCCI had agreed to swap the rescheduled 2021 and 2022 WT20 between themselves.
Since the year 2020 has already witnessed many unexpected things to happen, for the first time in the history of IPL, which so far went on smoothly, Delhi Capitals broke their final jinx and set November 10 final clash with four-time champions Mumbai Indians in Dubai.
It is dangerous to pick the favourites in T20 cricket which is so unpredictable and known for producing topsy-turvy results. So, it is safe to not predict the winners for Tuesday's final.
Defending champions and trained IPL campaigners, Mumbai Indians, which finished league phase on top of the table with 18 points, nine wins and five losses included, are being considered the favourites to complete their quintuple. This thought gathered momentum after MI handed DC a comprehensive 57 runs defeat in the Qualifier 1 to qualify for the final for the second consecutive times.
But now first-time finalists Delhi Capitals are being considered as a threat to MI's dream, especially after their clinical 17 runs win over Sunrisers Hyderabad in the Qualifier 2. On Sunday, DC had put up an all-round show to make it to their first-ever IPL final in the third attempt.
In their maiden final, DC will get third opportunity to take revenge of their three defeats against MI this season. In the league phase, MI had registered convincing wins over DC and then again in the Qualifier 1 the Blue Army handed them a massive 57 runs defeat. So, an opportunity to play MI in the final will not only offer DC a chance to make amends to their previous performances but also put end to their long struggle for the maiden IPL trophy.
When the tournament began, DC couldn't have asked for a better start winning two successive matches. Then there was a halt against SRH, but DC made a comeback to win three successive matches. Midway through the league, DC seemed the strongest rivals for MI.
Cut to the last fortnight, Delhi, sadly, lost the track; scenario changed drastically. After a series of wins, DC suddenly hit a slump, got stranded on 14 points for a long time and only just managed to make it to the playoffs.
They have finished as the second team with 16 points is just a statistical fact, but in terms of quality, DC were not quite the same, exciting, winning side that one saw at the start of the season.
They have lost five of their last seven matches. In the Qualifier 1, they were reduced to 0 for 3 against MI chasing 200.
The top order, full of youthful energy and bravado, struggled to step up against MI's new-ball pair of Jasprit Bumrah and Trent Boult. Prithvi Shaw, Rishabh Pant and Ajinkya Rahane had been struggling badly, which was adding pressure on captain Shreyas Iyer and Marcus Stoinis. DC's bowling which was most penetrative at the beginning of the tournament appeared to have lost the nip. Even the Purple Cap holder Kagiso Rabada fell flat.
Still DC, in the Qualifier 2, had made a heroic comeback putting an impressive performance against SRH to make the case of IPL final interesting. Top-order, out of sort Shaw excluded, launched an onslaught on SRH as Stonis, coming to open the batting, scored 38. He also shared 86 runs partnership with his opening partner Shikhar Dhawan, who scored 78 off 50 balls. Shimron Hetmyer hit unbeaten 42 off 22 to help DC post a massive 189 for 3 wickets in the stipulated 20 overs.
Rabada then ripped through SRH batting line-up picking up four wickets, while Stoinis scalped three to take DC in the final. It is, nevertheless, a good sign for DC ahead of tomorrow's IPL against MI.
Yet, what DC are up on Tuesday is an uphill task of upstaging IPL's most successful team, MI, which is so well-balanced and full of match winners, both in the batting and bowling departments. So, to beat such a strong team, Delhi will have to put up their greatest show ever in every sense of the word.
-- By Sudipta Biswas
