IPL 5 Preview: Mumbai Indians Vs Deccan Chargers Match 40
Mumbai Indians will seek redemption when they host Deccan Chargers, on Sunday, April 29, 2012, after being mauled by Delhi Daredevils on Friday.
Having lost three of their last four games, MI’s campaign has come unraveled at the seams and Harbhajan’s men would consider bottom side DC as the perfect whipping horses to get their act back on track.
MI’s experiments with their opening pair have cost them, with six different pairs tried out in the last eight games. Franklin and Tendulkar had had a good game together against KXIP and it was hard to see why the team management opted for the out of practice Blizzard, against DD. Other than that, the batting seems to be rolling along well.
The real worry is in the bowling which hasn’t been the same ever since Malinga’s back spasms caused him to miss a few games. But Malinga is back now and though he was taken to the cleaners by DD’s openers, he struck back in his second spell showing glimpses of his earlier form. Peterson has been a brilliant addition and has made his presenc felt with bat and ball alike. The supporting bowlers including Harbhajan have been less than impressive and strangely, MI who are one of the best fielding outfits of the tournament went to pieces in the face of DD’s belligerence.
DC registered their first win against Pune on the back of a brilliant innings by White who finally came good. But their batting had never been a worry, with the former champions having registered a top score of 196 earlier in the tournament. But they had failed to defend that score, thereby underlying their lack of penetration with the ball. Youngster Reddy came good against Pune, claiming 2/32; DC gained gained hugely from that coupled with the induction of Theron who had been ignored earlier in favour of Christian.
MI must be deemed favourites to win on home turf but don’t rule out DC; they seem to have woken up and although they have virtually no chance of qualifying for the semi-finals, they have the wherewithal to play spoilers.
MI’s probable eleven: Franklin, Tendulkar, Sharma, Karthik, Rayudu, Pollard, Peterson, Singh, Malinga, Patel, Ojha.
DC’s probable eleven: Patel, Dhawan, White, Sangakkara, Duminy, Jaggi, Sharma, Reddy, Mishra, Theron,Gony.
Category: IPL News
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Jinxatious is the Chief Editor of SportingAttitude.com
An avid writer, on an eclectic range of subjects, he brings to bear editorial experience garnered with a national newspaper in South-East Asia. He also has sportscasting experience, as a cricket commentator, and his passion for sport extends beyond Cricket, to Football, Tennis, and Olympic Sports.
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