IPL 2015: Mumbai Indians' Golden Chance to Take Revenge on High-Flying Rajasthan Royals
Mumbai Indians had lost to Rajasthan Royals when the two met in the first leg encounter at Ahmedabad a fortnight ago and the game offers a chance to the hosts to avenge that defeat at home
Well-rested and rejuvenated Mumbai Indians would seek to turn the tables on travel-weary Rajasthan Royals when the two former champions cross swords in the Indian Premier League at the Wankhede Stadium here on Friday. (Full Coverage of IPL 2015)
MI had lost to RR when the two met in the first leg encounter at Ahmedabad a fortnight ago and the game offers a chance to the hosts to avenge that defeat at home. Mumbai have enjoyed a well-needed short break after stopping Sunrisers Hyderabad in a low-scoring game through excellent seam bowling on April 25. (Rain Washes Out Bangalore vs Rajasthan Match)
The Royals, on the other hand, would enter the game somewhat tired after being on the road to play in the rain-abandoned match against Royal Challengers Bangalore Wednesday at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium. It was their second successive rain-hit contest after the total wash-out at the Eden Gardens against defending champions Kolkata Knight Riders on April 26.
The Royals are well on target to take one of the four play-off spots in the tournament, currently placed second behind leaders Chennai Super Kings in the eight-team table, while MI's hopes of making the play-offs after five defeats in seven games hang by a slender thread.
© BCCI
The win over Sunrisers when they defended a 157 through some fine bowling from sling-arm Sri Lankan pace spearhead Lasith Malinga and newly-inducted New Zealand all-rounder Mitchell McClenaghan -- who has filled up well for his injured compatriot Corey Anderson -- has re-ignited MI's fading hopes. But beyond these two, the pace bowling unit has not been impressive with none among R Vinay Kumar, the victorious Karnataka Ranji captain, Pawan Suyal and Jasprit Bhumrah, being really impressive in the shortest format of the game. They have other issues that need to be sorted out as well. One of the major ones is the lack of a good opening combination as Parthiv Patel, who opened in the previous game with Lendl Simmons, has not really been convincing despite getting some starts.
With just 73 runs from five games to his credit, the diminutive Gujarat Ranji captain has not made the sort of impact the team's think-tank, led by chief coach Ricky Ponting, would have liked. Captain and batting lynchpin Rohit Sharma -- who has scored 244 runs so far -- has constantly harped on getting the team combination right when asked why he has not been opening the innings despite scoring a brilliant 98 in the IPL opener on April 8 against KKR.
The team's think-tank could be tempted to ask him to revert to the opening slot after the lack of big partnerships at the top which has upset the team's batting rhythm.
The other issue is the absence of a good spin option to complement Harbhajan Singh's tight wicket-taking spells in the middle overs. Neither Shreyas Gopal nor his Karnataka colleague Jagadeesha Suchith have impressed on a consistent basis.
Royals too have some important issues to address. Their batsmen, including man-in-form Ajinkya Rahane, have not got a chance to go out and bat in the middle after their only loss at home (Ahmedabad) to RCB on April 24.
It was a batting failure which saw them being restricted to a paltry 130 for 9 by the RCB bowlers led by lanky Australian left arm pacer, Mitchell Starc. Rajasthan have fielded the same eleven in almost all their games but for some changes like New Zealand's Tim Southee replacing the gangling South African Chris Morris in the abandoned return game against RCB last night. Leg spinner Pravin Tambe, also a Mumbai-born, had leaked runs in both innings against RCB, but they have limited options in the spin department. In batting, they would once again depend on local man and current orange cap holder, Rahane (323 runs) to provide the spark to raise a big total or make a successful run chase. The other batsmen they have depended on this season are captain Shane Watson (144 runs), his victorious Australian World Cup-winning teammate Steve Smith (172) and all-rounder Deepak Hooda (117). James Faulkner has so far not been impressive with the bat but is a dangerous customer and MI will be wary of him in the slog phase as well as his clever bowling.
Mumbai-born Dhawal Kulkarni would be another player, Rajasthan would be looking forward to get cracking - apart from Rahane - as he knows the Wankhede track as well as anyone else from both teams.
Squads (from):
Rajasthan Royals: Shane Watson (C), Ajinkya Rahane, Steve Smith, James Faulkner, Deepak Hooda, Sanju Samson, Karun Nair, Dhawal Kulkarni, Tim Southee, Stuart Binny, Chris Morris, Pravin Tambe, Abhishek Nayar, Pardeep Sahu, Rusty Theron, Dinesh Salunkhe, Vikramjit Malik, Rahul Tewatia, Rajat Bhatia, Sagar Trivedi, Dishant Yagnik and Ankit Sharma.
Mumbai Indians: Rohit Sharma (C), Ambati Rayudu, Abhimanyu Mithun, Aditya Tare, Parthiv Patel, Kieron Pollard, Lasith Malinga, Harbhajan Singh, Jasprit Bumrah, Marchant de Lange, Pawan Suyal, Shreyas Gopal, Lendl Simmons, Pragyan Ojha, Mitchell McClenaghan, Aiden Blizzard, Akshay Wakhare, Nitish Rana, Sidhesh Lad, Hardik Pandya, Jagadeesha Suchitch, Unmukt Chand, Ben Hilfenhaus, Colin Munro and R Vinay Kumar.