Black Caps all-rounder James Franklin leads the Mumbai Indians batting averages after playing remarkable game-changing roles in the last league fixture of IPL-IV against Kolkata Knight Riders at the Eden Gardens.
Off and on, Franklin has been on the team sheet , prompting wisecracks in the press box on the utility of the Kiwi bought at a mere $100,000.
Match-winner
Apart from practising hitting sixes at nets sessions at the Wankhede stadium, Franklin has hardly managed to catch the attention. But in his sixth match, Franklin became MIs' match-winner against KKR, after exhibiting nimble work with ball that removed key KKR batsmen Jacques Kallis and Yusuf Pathan and then hitting hefty shots that sent L. Balaji to the far corners of the Eden four times before Ambati Rayudu clinched victory with a six.
It's on the back of this magnificent show with the bat and ball by Franklin (two for 35) that MI will take on KKR in the IPL eliminator.
MI is disappointed at the fact that it did not sustain its form to be placed among the top two in the league; a string of defeats against Kings XI Punjab, Deccan Chargers and Rajasthan Royals saw it slip from the top of the table to fourth before the cliff-hanger against KKR.
Rough ride
It has been a rough and tumble ride for MI after Lasith Malinga and its top order worked like a well-oiled machine in the opening matches against Delhi Daredevils at the Kotla and RCB at the Chinnaswamy stadium. The erratic story thus far would bring it under pressure.
The winner of this MI-KKR match will proceed to the qualifier 2 match in Chennai and play the loser of the match between RCB and Chennai Super Kings.
For the first time in four seasons, KKR has entered the last four, a feat its owner Shah Rukh Khan would be happy about.
Gautam Gambhir has every right to lavish praise on his colleagues, the way they lifted the game after going down to CSK in the opening match of the competition at Chepauk by two runs.
After the victory against Pune Warriors, Gambhir rejected a view that his team's performance has been very inconsistent.
“I do not agree with that at all. We have played excellent cricket on different kinds of surfaces. We are a team that would be most difficult to beat,” he said.
On Sunday he went out of the way to defend Balaji who sent down the final over of the match and was battered for 23 runs. Balaji is the third highest wicket-taker for KKR after Iqbal Abdulla (16) and Yusuf Pathan (13).
It's not often that he has been thumped so as to be the cause of defeat. Rightly Gambhir has defended one of his strike bowlers.
“He is an experienced bowler, he is not a bad bowler because of one over. In this format such things can happen. It was one of those bad days for us.
“He gave away 23 runs in that over. Nine times out of ten he would have emerged winner,” said Gambhir.
KKR has the bowling resources to subdue an unpredictable MI. It has adequate strength to post a formidable total too.
MI will have its supporters rooting for it, but Tendulkar's team will take the field with the stark reminder that it could not make 136 while chasing against Chargers and post only 133 against Rajasthan Royals after which Watson cut loose and made the home team wilt.
The teams
Kolkata Knight Riders: Gautam Gambhir (C), Manoj Tiwary, L Balaji, Manvinder Bisla, Rajat Bhatia, Shreevats Goswami, Iqbal Abdulla, Yusuf Pathan, Sarabjit Ladda, Shakib Al Hasan, Pradeep Sangwan, Laxmi Rathan Shukla, Jaidev Unadkat, Ryan Doeschate, Brett Lee, Mark Boucher, Jacques Kallis, James Pattinson.
Mumbai Indians: Sachin Tendulkar (C), 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.
