IPL T20 Cricket

Sachin Tendulkar led Mumbai Indians will take on Dhoni led Chennai Superkings at Wankhede stadium in Mumbai. This is the first match for Sachin in Indian Premier League as he missed previous Mumbai matches due to fitness reasons. Stand-in captain Shaun Pollock led Mumbai to crucial victories over strong teams like Rajasthan Royals. Both Chennai and Mumbai are in resurgent mood in the recent matches. We can expect another interesting contest at Wankhede as it happened in the last game between two teams. Sachin Tendulkar and Sanath Jayasuriya will open for Mumbai Indians and they are looking strong due to presence of strong all-rounders in the batting lineup. Mumbai strength lies in middle order hard hitters like Robin Uthappa, Abhishek Nayar, Shaun Pollock and Dwayne Bravo. If Mumbai top order clicks, big hitters will take the match away from Chennai. Ashish Nehra is vital for Mumbai in the initial spell.

For Chennai, their weakness lies in the inability of their batsmen to convert good starts into big knocks. Albie Morkel and Badrinath are playing well for Chennai and they should exploit bowlers like Bravo and Jayasuriya. If Balaji continues his superb form, Mumbai will be in trouble. Suresh Raina needs to convert those 20's and 30's into big scores.

Match timings: From 8 PM to 11 PM.

IPL Statistics:
1. Sachin Tendulkar will play his debut match in IPL.
2. L. Balaji is the only bowler to take hat-trick in Indian Premier League.
3. MS Dhoni is in the sixth position in the top 10 batsmen list needs to score 57 runs to wear orange cap.
4. Only Ashish Nehra is in the top 10 bowlers list from both teams.
5. Cricketers whose name starts with “S” won the man of the match awards (Shoaib Akhtar, Shaun Marsh, Sourav Ganguly and Shane Watson) in the last 4 games. Can Sanath, Sachin or Shaun make it five in a row? Sanath, Shaun and Ashish played vital roles in the last 3 Mumbai wins.
6. Mumbai lost 4 successive matches and won 3 games in a row.
7. Robin Uthappa is the leading batsman for Mumbai Indians.


Probable squads:

Mumbai Indians: Sachin Tendulkar (captain), Sanath Jayasuriya, Dominic Thornley, Robin Uthappa, Dwayne Bravo, Shaun Pollock, Abhishek Nayar, Dhawal Kulkarni, Ashish Nehra, Muzafir Khote/ Raje and Yogesh Takawale.

Chennai Superkings: MS Dhoni (captain), Stephen Fleming, Vidyut Sivaramakrishnan, Suresh Raina, S. Badrinath, Albie Morkel, Balaji, Muralidharan, Kupugedera, Joginder Sharma/ Amaranath and Manpreet Gony.

Verdict: Mumbai Indians will win this match and their strong batting lineup will expose chinks in Chennai bowling attack especially in middle overs. I don’t think current Chennai bowlers can stop the likes of Sachin, Jayasuriya, Uthappa, Bravo and Pollock from hitting those big shots. Chennai hopes lay in big hitting all-rounder Albie Morkel, MS Dhoni and Badrinath.