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Mumbai Indians vs Rajasthan Royals
Time: IST 8 pm
Location; Kingsmead, Durban.
Last Year's Ranking:5Captain: Sachin Tendulkar
Coach: Pravin Amre
IPL 2008 Record: M-14, W-7, L-7.
IPL 2009 Record M-1, W-1, L-0
Team Form:
Mumbai won a tough first game against the runner-ups of last season’s IPL and will go into the second battle against the champions with a lot of confidence. With skipper Sachin Tendulkar hitting an undefeated 59 and in sublime form, Mumbai look like the team that will be smiling at the finishing line. Malinga and Harbhajan look good with the ball, and should pose a test for Rajasthan.
Team News:
Pinal Shah likely to be replaced by keeper Yogesh Takawale. Rohan Raje will give way to Dhawal Kulkarni.
----------------Rajasthan Royals-----------------
Last Year's Ranking: 1Captain: Shane Warne
Coach: Shane Warne
IPL 2008 Record: M-16, W-9, L-7.
IPL 2009 Record: M-1, W-0, L-1.
Team Form:
Warne rolled back the years, with flight, dip, big break, and also the fiery flipper. Ask Virat Kohli and B Akhil. Dimitri Mascarenhas proved to be the surprise element with the ball. With the odd quick delivery out of nowhere, Kamran Khan showed a glimpse or two of what Warne might have seen. It's the batsmen who are the worry - the Asnodkars and the Pathans, who played like kings on flat Indian pitches last year. Graeme Smith will have to run into some pretty good form pretty soon. It should help that Mitchell Johnson is in Dubai. Just get past old nemesis Zaheer Khan and he should be fine.
Team News:
Don't expect wholesale changes with Rajasthan, but don't count out an odd rabbit out of Warne's hat either. Warne, Mascarenhas, Smith and Henderson should continue to be the four foreign players. Niraj Patel is the man most likely to be under pressure.
Head to Head:
Mumbai gave Rajasthan one of their rare hidings last year when they first met, bowling the eventual champions out for 103. Rajasthan set things right in the return game, though, with a thrilling last-ball win. Before Niraj and Jadeja bailed Rajasthan out, they were 77 for 5, chasing 146. Maybe reason enough to give Niraj another game.
RAJASTHAN ROYALS | MUMBAI INDIANS | |
2 | Played | 2 |
1 | Won | 1 |
1 | Lost | 1 |
0 | Tied | 0 |
0 | No Results | 0 |
1 | Home Wins | 1 |
0 | Away Wins | 0 |
Mumbai Indians won by 7 wickets on May 06 2008 | Biggest Loss | Rajasthan Royals won by 5 wickets on May 25 2008 |
Rajasthan Royals won by 5 wickets on May 25 2008 Target Chased: 145 | Highest Total chased | Mumbai Indians won by 7 wickets on May 06 2008 Target Chased: 103 |
Swapnil Asnodkar (56 Runs) | Most Prolific Batsman | Sanath Jayasuriya (56 Runs) |
Niraj Patel (40 Runs) | Highest Individual Score | Sanath Jayasuriya (38 Runs) |
4/14 by Sohail Tanvir on May 25 2008 | Best Bowling Analysis | 3/13 by Ashish Nehra on May 06 2008 |
Sohail Tanvir (4 Wickets) | Most Prolific Bowler | Ashish Nehra (3 Wickets) |
Kingsmead is located in humid Durban, home to sandy beaches and surfing.Established ~1939
Seating capacity 25,000
Pitch Report:
It has been renowned as a seamers wicket, and there is also a famous myth regarding how the tide affects batting conditions, as the ground is quite close to the beach. Many batting collapses in matches in the past have been blamed on changes in the tide, but nobody has been able to prove this theory.
Interesting History:
Yuvraj Singh scored 36 runs from Stuart Broads over becoming the first cricketer to do so in Twenty20 Cricket. India were unbeaten on this ground during the ICC Twenty20 World Championship.
Weather Conditions
Min: 15°C Max: 21°C
Weather: Cloudy with rain
Wind: Gentle South Westerly
Looking Back:
The defending champions have made a disastrous start. But that's what they did last year too, and that was the only straw Shane Warne clutched after Rajasthan Royals' humbling defeat to Bangalore Royal Challengers on Saturday.
Mumbai, last year's middle-rankers, had a dream start - and Sanath Jayasuriya didn't even fire for them - and head into this game as hands-down favourites. They have a dream opening combination in Sachin Tendulkar and Jayasuriya, the form man in JP Duminy and what worked as a perfect fire-and-ice bowling combination in Lasith Malinga and Harbhajan Singh. Not to mention Zaheer Khan and Dwayne Bravo.
Going by big names, Rajasthan should be out of their depth. Right? Wrong. That was the case last year too, and teams will do better than to write off Warne's team just on the basis of one poor performance. Even last year, Rajasthan lulled other teams with a poor performance first up. They had to wait for a long time for another average game.
Both teams will look to improve their batting - their bowlers were mostly spot on and in any case they will be playing on one of the bouncier pitches at Kingsmead. Given the young Rajasthan line-up, Mumbai - with the presence of Jayasuriya, Duminy and Bravo - will always threaten a big lusty innings.
Watch out for
Warne v Tendulkar: Perhaps the biggest gift from this new format. It happened only once last season because Tendulkar was not fit for their first match. Even though they went at it for just six balls, they did put up a show. Tendulkar tried his trademark paddle first up, tried coming down the track and was pushed by a flatter delivery, and six balls yielded six runs, with no clear winners. Here's hoping for a longer duel this time. Just don't get out, Sach, before Warnie comes on to bowl.
Pollock v Smith: The incumbent v the successor. Too bad Shaun Pollock will only be plotting from outside, and not bowling himself. Maybe they should get him to bowl just for one match.
Probable Team Line-up:
Mumbai Indians:
Sanath Jayasuriya
Sachin Tendulkar
Shikar Dhawan
JP Duminy
Dwayne Bravo
Abhishek Nayar
Yogesh Takawale
Dhawal Kulkarni
Harbhajan Singh
Zaheer Khan
Lasith Malinga
Rajasthan Royals:
Graeme Smith
Swapnil Asnodkar
Niraj Patel
Tyron Henderson
Yusuf Pathan
Dimitri Mascarenhas
Ravindra Jadeja
Shane Warne (capt.)
Mahesh Rawat (wk)
Munaf Patel
Kamran Khan.
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