MI are all set to play their second and final afternoon fixture of Dream11 IPL as they face Delhi Capitals at the Dubai International Stadium on Saturday. This match will also mark MI’s 200th IPL match becoming the first-ever team to achieve the feat.

While MI have already qualified for the playoffs, Delhi Capitals need to secure a win to make it into the final four.

MI is coming off a fantastic win over RCB at Abu Dhabi. As for DC, they faced an 88-run defeat against SRH in Dubai.

Here we take you through some of the talking points ahead of the clash between MI and DC.

Flashback

Both teams had faced each other at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium earlier in the tournament. Electing to bat first, Delhi Capitals put up a total of 162/4 on board. Shikhar Dhawan scored an unbeaten 69 runs from 52 deliveries. As for MI, Krunal Pandya was the pick amongst the bowlers with figures of 2/26.

MI on the other hand chased the target with ease. After Rohit departed early, the duo of Quinton de Kock and Suryakumar Yadav scored half-centuries to tilt the game in their team's favor. MI went on to win the game by five wickets.

Team form

MI are currently leading the points table and are the only team to have qualified for the playoffs. They defeated RCB in style as Surya registered a magnificent knock of 79* (43). A victory tomorrow will guarantee them a spot in the top two which will give them multiple chances in the playoffs.

DC were having a spectacular campaign but suddenly seem to have lost track. The team has lost three consecutive matches against KXIP, KKR, and SRH. They need to win one out of their last two matches to qualify further but the momentum seems to have gone down for them.

Tough competition

MI and DC have collided 25 times against each other with the men in Blue and Gold having a slightly better record, emerging victorious on thirteen occasions. DC have won and lost a couple of matches each in this stadium.

The Dubai factor hasn't worked well for MI, having lost two out of their two matches in this ground. However, both their games here went down to the Super Over. They will be keen to get it off their backs before the playoffs.

Batting Firepower

Quinton de Kock is the highest run-scorer for MI while Ishan Kishan has produced some fine performances with the bat this season. Suryakumar Yadav who gained the spotlight for his knock against RCB will look to maintain the fluency with the bat. Saurabh Tiwary would want to get going after departing early last match. The finishing trio of Kieron Pollard, Hardik Pandya, and Krunal Pandya make MI a tough proposition in the death overs.

Shikhar Dhawan was on a roll quite recently with four consecutive 50 plus scores which included two centuries. Ajinkya Rahane hasn't given great returns as a batsman with an average of 10.20 in five matches. Shreyas Iyer has handled the mantle well at the middle-order for DC. While Rishabh Pant has got constant starts, he hasn't been able to turn it through or convert them into big knocks. Both Marcus Stoinis and Shimron Hetmyer have been dismissed early in their last few games which has been a concern for Delhi.

Bowling Lineups

Jasprit Bumrah has been at the forefront of MI's bowling attack with 20 wickets in the season so far. Trent Boult who hasn't been much on the economical side in the last couple of matches will look to threaten the opposition with the new ball. James Pattinson has also made a decent contribution in the middle overs. In the spin department, Krunal has managed to keep the run-scoring off while Chahar has picked wickets from the other end.

Kagiso Rabada went wicketless for the first-time in 26 innings in the previous match. The current purple cap holder will aim to pick wickets early. Anrich Nortje has given him good support from the other end. Tushar Deshpande hasn't been amongst the wickets for DC. Ravichandran Ashwin who started the tournament well hasn't been clinical with the ball in the last few matches. Axar Patel with an economy rate of 6.14 so far has been quite restrictive.

Approaching milestones

- Pollard requires 27 runs more to complete 3000 runs in IPL

- Pollard is also 6 sixes away from completing 200 sixes in IPL

- Krunal requires 14 runs more to complete 1000 runs in IPL

- Krunal is also 5 wickets away from completing 50 wickets in IPL

- Hardik is 2 catches away from completing 50 catches in IPL.

Players to watch out for:

Quinton de Kock: The wicketkeeper batsman from South Africa hasn't got going in the last couple of matches. Leading the run tally for MI this season, Quinton will look to provide the firepower at the top-order. In the previous match against DC, he attacked the spinners as well as Nortje to take off the pressure from MI.

Rahul Chahar: Bowling under the guise of Trent Boult and Jasprit Bumrah, the leg-spinner has been carving out a special place in the MI setup with his consistent wicket-taking abilities. Rahul Chahar has 14 scalps in the tournament so far, bettering his last year's performance where he picked 13 wickets. He has continued to attack the batsmen with his googlies and leg-breakers even if it came at a cost of conceding runs.

Head-to-head: W W L L L