A mouth-watering clash is on the cards as the defending champions Mumbai Indians (MI) take on the first-time finalists Delhi Capitals (DC) in the summit clash of the Dream11 Indian Premier League (IPL) 2020 at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium on Tuesday.

Both the teams have finished in the top two after the conclusion of the league-stage and they will lock horns to lift the trophy in Dubai. This will be the fourth time that these two sides are facing each other this season and MI have won all the three previous clashes.

MI has had a nice break after winning the Qualifier against DC. Its performance in that match was absolutely perfect and we don't expect any change in the playing eleven. The batting has plenty of depth in power, something that DC is going to find it hard to match.

Quinton de Kock, Suryakumar Yadav, and Ishan Kishan have been in terrific form. All three of them are among the top-8 scorers of IPL 2020. Interestingly, Ishan Kishan and Quinton de Kock have the exact same total of 483 runs and will be eyeing 500 for sure.

Ishan Kishan also has 29 sixes to his name, the most for any batsman this season. Hardik Pandya and Kieron Pollard have 25 and 22 to their name respectively as well, making the MI lower-order far more powerful than DC's (or any other side in this season of the IPL).

MI has scored close to 100 runs in the last five overs multiple times and so it can be never counted out, even after a poor start.

Rohit Sharma has been a bit out of form but it is difficult to look past him. He could use this IPL final to lay to rest any doubts about his fitness.

If you thought that MI's batting was strong, its bowling is even stronger! Jasprit Bumrah has 10 wickets in his last three games and is in prime form. He and Trent Boult are second and third on the list of top wicket-takers this season.

Rahul Chahar, Krunal Pandya, Kieron Pollard, and Nathan Coulter-Nile ensure that there is never an easy over for the opposition to target.

MI has been the best team of IPL 2020 by far. It is not, however, unbeatable.

The Delhi Capitals have been excellent this season but ended up losing form at just the wrong time. It has lost five out of its last seven matches. More importantly, it has lost two out of its last four matches against the Mumbai Indians.

It is going to take something special for DC to be able to win this match and they will need to think about something out of the box like what they against SRH.

DC has some obvious strengths. It has a very good bowling attack led by Kagiso Rabada and Anrich Nortje. The two South African pacers are going to need to come hard at the MI batsmen. We saw that MI attacked every single DC bowler in the previous match and put them off their lengths.

The same effort will no doubt be made in this match too.

However, Ravi Ashwin, Axar Patel, and a combination of Marcus Stoinis and Praveen Dubey will challenge any batting lineup. The spinners are going to be challenged but if DC can take some early wickets it should be able to make their life easier.

DC's batting has been unsteady in recent matches. Shikhar Dhawan has carried much of the load and will need to put up another big effort in the IPL final. Marcus Stoinis opened the batting against SRH and we expect to see him there once more.

This will allow DC to play with Shreyas Iyer, Shimron Hetmyer, and Rishab Pant in the middle. Ajinkya Rahane played in the previous match but did not really play a role. He could be used as a floater if DC loses an early wicket.

Weather Forecast
Temperature during the game will vary between 28-degree Celsius and 29-degree Celsius.​ The humidity can be as high as 58 per cent and the wind speed is expected to be around 21 kmph. There is a 10 per cent chance of precipitation as per the forecast but that is nothing to worry about and the match will likely go uninterrupted.

Pitch Report
The pitch at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium has slowed down a bit and the batsmen on. While there should be some swing on offer early on, change of pace could be key. However, there will be enough help on offer for the faster bowlers with movement off the surface keeping the batsmen on their toes. As for spinners, it could go both ways, who aren't expected to get much turn off the surface. There has been some dew around and that is likely to make things a bit easier for the team batting second.

Toss Prediction
Both teams might prefer to bat first given that the game is a final, with 185+ likely to be a competitive total at the venue.

Stats and Facts
Head to head: Matches Played: 27
Mumbai Indians: 15
Delhi Capitals: 12

Approaching Milestones:
This will be Rohit Sharma's 200th IPL match. He needs 8 runs to complete 4000 IPL runs for MI and requires 43 runs to complete 3000 IPL runs as captain.
Kieron Pollard needs 2 sixes to complete 200 IPL sixes.
Shikhar Dhawan requires 36 runs to complete 1500 IPL runs for DC.
Shreyas Iyer needs 46 runs to complete 500 runs in IPL 2020.

Likely XIs:
Delhi Capitals: Shikhar Dhawan, Marcus Stoinis, Ajinkya Rahane, Shreyas Iyer (capt), Shimron Hetmyer, Rishabh Pant (wk), Axar Patel, Praveen Dubey/Harshal Patel, Kagiso Rabada, R Ashwin, Anrich Nortje

Mumbai Indians: Rohit Sharma (capt), Quinton de Kock (wk), Suryakumar Yadav, Ishan Kishan, Hardik Pandya, Kieron Pollard, Krunal Pandya, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Rahul Chahar, Trent Boult/James Pattinson, Jasprit Bumrah

Players to Watch Out For:
Delhi Capitals: Shikhar Dhawan, Shreyas Iyer, Marcus Stoinis, Kagiso Rabada, R Ashwin, Anrich Nortje

Mumbai Indians: Rohit Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav, Ishan Kishan, Hardik Pandya, Kieron Pollard, Jasprit Bumrah

Match Odds:
Mumbai Indians: 1.66
Delhi Capitals: 2.20

SantaBanta's Winner Prediction: Mumbai Indians

Match Venue: Dubai International Cricket Stadium, Dubai
Time: 7.30 PM IST
TV: Star Sports Network
Live Streaming: Disney+ Hotstar VIP