Their campaign back on track with consecutive victories over Kolkata Knight Riders, a charged up Mumbai Indians would be eying an encore of last year’s final with win over Royals Challengers Bangalore in the second qualifier of the IPL here on Friday.
Mumbai would be desperate to avenge their last year’s final defeat at the hands of title holders Chennai Super Kings, who have already made it to the summit clash by defeating RCB in the first qualifier on Tuesday.
But for that to happen, Mumbai will have to first quell the challenge of RCB, who in spite of losing to Chennai, will get yet another chance to qualify for the final by virtue of finishing at the top of the 10-team points table.
Going into the match, Mumbai would be brimming with confidence from the fact that their batting and bowling line-up clicked as a unit in their previous two matches.
The opening slot which has been a cause of concern for Mumbai right from the start of then tournament finally clicked with Sachin Tendulkar getting an able partner in Aiden Blizzard.
Chasing Kolkata’s modest 147 for seven yes, the Tendulkar-Blizzard opening duo gave a blazing start to the Mumbai innings, putting on 81 runs in 7.5 overs to set the platform for the victory.
And Mumbai would be looking for a repeat performance from Blizzard and Tendulkar as their middle-order looked a bit shaky in the last few matches.
Rohit Sharma and Ambati Rayudu have fizzled out with the bat after their impressive start to the tournament.
To add to it, big-hitting Keiron Pollard has been a big let down for Mumbai in IPL 4, scoring just 143 runs from 15 matches with 28 being his highest.
But Kiwi all-rounder James Franklin has been a welcome addition in Mumbai’s playing eleven in the last two matches as he played crucial unbeaten knocks in both the games to help his side’s cause.
In their last round-robin match against Kolkata on Saturday, Franklin came up with a match-winning 45 of 23 balls to guide Mumbai to a sensational five-wicket win and then followed it up with a 25-ball 29 not out yesterday to justify his place in the starting line-up.
With his long handle, off-spinner Harbhajan Singh too has been a revelation for Mumbai down the order.
On the bowling front, Mumbai boasts of a potent bowling attack with the likes of tournament’s highest wicket-taker Lasith Malinga, Munaf Patel, Harbhajan and young Dhawal Kulkarni up its rank.
With his toe-crushing yorkers, Malinga has been outstanding in the event and come tomorrow, Tendulkar would be looking towards the Sri Lankan to give them a good start by disimissing the dangerous Chris Gayle early.
Just like Malinga, Munaf too will be a major concern for RCB going into the match as the lanky Baroda pacer can trouble any bastman with his nagging line and length, a preview of which was visible during his man-of-the-match effort of 3-27 on Wednesday.
RCB, on the other hand, have no time to dwell on their six-wicket loss to Chennai in the first qualifier on Tuesday.
With a second chance in hand, the Daniel Vettori-led side will have to get their acts together soon, especially in their bowling unit if they wish to spoil Mumbai’s party tomorrow.
In Gayle, Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers, Luke Pomersbach and Saurabh Tiwary, RCB have a formidable line-up.
Gayle has been RCB’s top performer with the bat and tops the list of run-scorers with 519 runs from 10 games, followed by Kohli (514 off 14) and Tendulkar (513 off 15).
RCB’s batting prowess can be gauged from the fact that despite Gayle’s early dismissal against Chennai, they scored 175 for four with Kohli starring with an unbeaten 70.
However, bowling remains RCB’s top priority after conceding 58 in the last four against Chennai the other day.
Bangalore have only two world-class bowlers in Zaheer Khan and skipper Vettori, who is suffering from a knee injury and has been lacklustre in the last match, conceding 42 runs of his 3.2 overs, including 12 off the last over.
The Teams (from):
Royal Challengers Bangalore: Daniel Vettori (capt), Virat Kohli, Mayank Agarwal, S Aravind, Zaheer Khan, B Arun Karthik, G Muralidharan, A Mithun, Mohd Kaif, R Ninan, Asad Pathan, C Gayle, A B de Villiers, Charl Langeveldt, Luke Pomersbach, Saurabh Tiwary, Johan van der Wath, Syed Mohammed, Rilee Roussow, Jonathan Vandiar, Abrar Kazi.
Mumbai Indians: Sachin Tendulkar (capt), Ambati Rayudu, Harbhajan Singh, Rohit Sharma, T Suman, Munaf Patel, Aiden Blizzard, Kieron Pollard, Lasith Malinga, Andrew Symonds, Davy Jacobs, James Franklin, Dilhara Fernando, Ray Price, Abu Nechim Ahmed, Aditya Tare, Ali Murtaza, Dhawal Kulkarni, Pawan Suyal, R Satish, Sarul Kanwar, Suryakumar Yadav, Yuzvendra Singh Chahai.
