Tuesday’s game in the IPL looks like a real cracker as the Super Kings take on the Mumbai Indians in Chennai. The Mumbai Indians have lost just one game. While the Super Kings, after an up-and-down are on eight points from nine games. The Mumbai Indians will play to confirm semi-final berth with this win.
The Super Kings are involved in a real scrap for a semi final place but back to back wins have revived their campaign. They have four wins and five defeats so far and key games coming up against Deccan Chargers and the Knight Riders who are also in the hunt. They cannot afford to lose any other games now onward though they do have a healthy net run rate which could well count in their favour.
Vijay is fast becoming a star of the tournament and currently tops the Super Kings run scoring charts. With the ball it’s a different story although Doug Bollinger performed really well in his first game of the tournament against the Royals with two wickets for fifteen runs, and all this despite the visitors making an excellent fist of what would have been a record run chase.
With seven wins and one defeat, the Mumbai Indians are pretty much assured of a semi final place. They have been ruthless throughout the tournament, their only blemish being a defeat to the Royal Challengers. All departments are functioning as the coaching staff would like and they deserve to be favourites to win the tournament.
Tendulkar has scored four half-centuries in eight games with a highest of 72 and a strike-rate of 140.72, besides displaying native shrewdness in team selections and strategies.
Tendulkar’s performance not just as a batsman, but also as an inspirational leader who has brought out the best in his team and transformed the side from as serious cup contenders. Under his guidance, youngsters like Saurabh Tiwari, Ambatti Rayudu, Rajagopal Sathish and Shikhar Dhawan have prospered while making key contributions with the bat.
Lending depth to the Mumbai Indians are the West Indian stars Dwayne Bravo and Kieron Pollard besides South African Ryan McLaren and Sri Lankan fast bowler Lasith Malinga, not to forget India’s top spinner Harbhajan Singh and left-arm seamer Zaheer Khan.
The one surprising bit is that Abhishek Nayar is yet to make his IPL debut in this tournament, and this could be the match that he will be tried. Aditya Tare’s batting may be reasonably good, but his wicket-keeping has let the side down with the amount of extras conceded and that will be a big question-mark.
Previous Meetings:
Mumbai has edge over Chennai with 3-2. In the previous two seasons, both sides have had equal success against each other, having won and lost two each.
These sides met in match number 21 in Mumbai and the Super Kings posted 180 which Mumbai overhauled with one over and five wickets to spare. One notable absentee for the Super Kings in that game was Murali Vijay and any repeat of his 127 off 56 balls on this ground against the Royals could well be enough to turn things around.
Player to Watch:
Matthew Hayden, with Murali Vijay doing all the hitting, Hayden has been uncharacteristically quiet in the last three games, and being the fiery competitor that he is, he would keen on a late charge up the batting charts.
The Verdict:
The Super Kings need a win here and although their bowling still has plenty of question marks against it, the run machines in the batting line up are clicking into gear. They can win this at a ground where we saw a glut of runs in the previous game. The better the wicket (for batsmen), the better the chance the Super Kings have.
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