Can Rohit Sharma turn around his woeful form against Delhi Capitals? | Ipl News

The approach to the Feroz Shah Kotla ground is filled with the sound of beating drums and chanting of pre-assembled fans on the eve of Delhi Capitals’ Indian Premier League (IPL) match against the Mumbai Indians.As the travelling circus of the IPL is set to finally arrive in the Indian capital on Sunday, the procession inside the stadium — no doubt staged, as the assemblage of camera crews around it made evident — may be nothing new. What does feel new though is that the home team, after a few years of underperformance, may finally be living up to the air of excitement that has been created around the ground.
Four wins on the trot, with performances that suggest that they are looking strong in all areas, make the table-topping Delhi Capitals the favourites for their first match on their traditional home patch against a faltering Mumbai side that is currently languishing in eighth in the IPL standings.
Story continues below this ad

Homecoming
After such a promising start, the next challenge for Delhi will be to adjust to this legacy ground of Indian cricket, with its traditional flat decks and small boundaries.
The franchise’s owners have created what feels like an almost entirely-new side, with an untested new captain in Axar Patel who has shown he is up to the task. The bowling, thanks to the introduction of Mitchell Starc, carries real threat with the new ball and Axar, in tandem with Kuldeep Yadav, completes a spin department that can choke teams in the middle overs.
In their first game, Ashutosh Sharma’s heroics suggested they have formed up their late-order hitters, and on a sluggish Bengaluru wicket, KL Rahul, in a new role in the middle order, took the side home again in a statement of intent about his return to form in this format.
Where they may be slightly undercooked though, is scoring big in the powerplay, with Faf du Plessis and Abhishek Porel averaging in their 20s and opener Jake Fraser-McGurk going even lower at 11.50. Runs in the powerplay may be crucial on this wicket that has recently proven to be a batting paradise — in the five matches on this ground last year, 2151 runs were plundered here at an average batting strike rate of 179.39, making it the quickest scoring venue of the tournament.Story continues below this ad
They remain unperturbed that fact though, happy to keep ticking the boxes along the way. “Everyone (in the team) has played enough cricket here to understand the wicket and the conditions,” Delhi batter Ashutosh, whose finishing abilities may be put to the test if his side are to get a big score, told a news conference here on Saturday. “It does not matter too much to us whether we are playing at home or away, in Delhi or in Visakhapatnam or anywhere. Our preparation is good and our plans remain the same.”
The Rohit question
Similar concerns at the top of the order prevail in the Mumbai camp, compounded recent close defeats that have put them in a precarious position in the table, with their playoff hopes hanging a thread.
Scores of 0, 8, 13, 17 make for grim reading for Rohit Sharma. That he has breached the 400-run mark only once in the last four IPL seasons shows this is not a recent trend. Not just Rohit’s but Ryan Rickleton’s lack of form has also squeezed the pressure on the likes of Tilak Varma, Naman Dhir and Suryakumar Yadav. The fact that Rohit was absent in the team’s best all-round batting performance of the season, that came in the narrow defeat against Lucknow Super Giants, says much.
The Indian captain is no longer the Mumbai captain; his place in the side is to be appraised on his batting alone, and he is not too many off days away from serious debate about his value to the team. Rohit was seen with strapping on his knee during the team’s pre-match training session on Saturday — having missed the Lucknow game due to the knee issue — but there is little reason to suggest that he will not open the batting on Sunday.Story continues below this ad
Runs from Mumbai’s marquee batter especially, and their top order in general, would provide a welcome reprieve, especially considering they have not faltered too much in other areas, losing a couple of games with the margin of only a few hits. The batting-friendly conditions in New Delhi may provide the platform for that.