Kamlesh Barjati
Banned
- Joined
- 26 May 2011
- Messages
- 1,087
- Reaction score
- 31
Mumbai Indians:
The twin wins over the Kolkata Knight Riders would have gone a long way towards restoring confidence in the Mumbai Indians line-up, which seemed to be floundering a little after their rocket-like start to the tournament. The one key difference in their wins versus the run of losses they had was that the batting delivered results. All batsmen might not have clicked, but they found enough of them to get the job done, which is what was lacking when they went on their run of losses.
However, the lack of runs from the middle and lower-middle order is a cause for worry for Mumbai. Kieron Pollard and Andrew Symonds were supposed to have hit the ball out of cities - they've scored a combined total of 278 runs off 265 balls in the tournament so far. Another one of their talents who has not quite delivered is T Suman, while Rohit Sharma has been brilliant when he has got going and ordinary when he hasn't.
Royal Challengers Bangalore:
The Royal Challengers must have got used to relaxing in the dressing room, making sure Chris Gayle had his pads on, and then watching him pummel bowlers into submission. The first time he failed in the tournament - against the Kings XI Punjab - they were annihilated by a 100-plus runs. The second time he did so - against Chennai in the qualifier - they were more ready. However, the fact that they didn't win in spite of dominating more than three quarters of the match will rankle. And it will do nothing to quieten the doubters' chants of RCB being a 'one man army'. Bangalore are not, by any stretch, a one-man army, though it cannot be denied that one man has been spectacularly successful for them. Just like Mumbai though, they have the big names in Kohli, Saurabh Tiwary, AB de Villiers, Daniel Vettori and Zaheer Khan. Kohli apart, none of the others have lived up to their reputations so far though.
Bangalore need to tighten up their bowling, which leaked too many runs to Chennai in spite of having the upper hand. They need it especially against Mumbai because Mumbai have exhibited vulnerability when their top order has been reined in. In Zaheer and Vettori they have the bowlers capable of that, and S Aravind has come along nicely under Zaheer's tutelage. It remains to be seen whether Bangalore can put it all together for this match though.
In Focus:
Chris Gayle: So far in the tournament, Gayle hasn't had two consecutive failures. Also so far in the tournament, when Gayle has not failed, Bangalore haven't lost. When he failed against the Kings XI Punjab, he came out in Bangalore's next league match (against Chennai Super Kings) with determination. He gave the appearance of playing cautiously, treating each ball on its merit, and still had a strike-rate of 150 while carrying his bat through. The signs are ominous.
Sachin Tendulkar: His opening partner is likely to make all the pre-match headlines for the fun copy-writers will have with the 'Blizzard vs Gayle' puns, but it is of course Tendulkar who holds the key to Mumbai's fortunes. In the three matches that Mumbai lost on the trot, Tendulkar was subdued at the top and scored 74 runs off 86 balls. In the next two matches that Mumbai won, he scored the same number of runs - 74 - but did it off just 55 balls. It is clear that when he hits his stride, Mumbai are a different batting side.
The twin wins over the Kolkata Knight Riders would have gone a long way towards restoring confidence in the Mumbai Indians line-up, which seemed to be floundering a little after their rocket-like start to the tournament. The one key difference in their wins versus the run of losses they had was that the batting delivered results. All batsmen might not have clicked, but they found enough of them to get the job done, which is what was lacking when they went on their run of losses.
However, the lack of runs from the middle and lower-middle order is a cause for worry for Mumbai. Kieron Pollard and Andrew Symonds were supposed to have hit the ball out of cities - they've scored a combined total of 278 runs off 265 balls in the tournament so far. Another one of their talents who has not quite delivered is T Suman, while Rohit Sharma has been brilliant when he has got going and ordinary when he hasn't.
Royal Challengers Bangalore:
The Royal Challengers must have got used to relaxing in the dressing room, making sure Chris Gayle had his pads on, and then watching him pummel bowlers into submission. The first time he failed in the tournament - against the Kings XI Punjab - they were annihilated by a 100-plus runs. The second time he did so - against Chennai in the qualifier - they were more ready. However, the fact that they didn't win in spite of dominating more than three quarters of the match will rankle. And it will do nothing to quieten the doubters' chants of RCB being a 'one man army'. Bangalore are not, by any stretch, a one-man army, though it cannot be denied that one man has been spectacularly successful for them. Just like Mumbai though, they have the big names in Kohli, Saurabh Tiwary, AB de Villiers, Daniel Vettori and Zaheer Khan. Kohli apart, none of the others have lived up to their reputations so far though.
Bangalore need to tighten up their bowling, which leaked too many runs to Chennai in spite of having the upper hand. They need it especially against Mumbai because Mumbai have exhibited vulnerability when their top order has been reined in. In Zaheer and Vettori they have the bowlers capable of that, and S Aravind has come along nicely under Zaheer's tutelage. It remains to be seen whether Bangalore can put it all together for this match though.
In Focus:
Chris Gayle: So far in the tournament, Gayle hasn't had two consecutive failures. Also so far in the tournament, when Gayle has not failed, Bangalore haven't lost. When he failed against the Kings XI Punjab, he came out in Bangalore's next league match (against Chennai Super Kings) with determination. He gave the appearance of playing cautiously, treating each ball on its merit, and still had a strike-rate of 150 while carrying his bat through. The signs are ominous.
Sachin Tendulkar: His opening partner is likely to make all the pre-match headlines for the fun copy-writers will have with the 'Blizzard vs Gayle' puns, but it is of course Tendulkar who holds the key to Mumbai's fortunes. In the three matches that Mumbai lost on the trot, Tendulkar was subdued at the top and scored 74 runs off 86 balls. In the next two matches that Mumbai won, he scored the same number of runs - 74 - but did it off just 55 balls. It is clear that when he hits his stride, Mumbai are a different batting side.
ftopic: my supported team mumbai has out of ipl4 
