Last-chance saloon for Mumbai, Bangalore
Posted on May 26, 2011The Bangalore Royal Challengers and Mumbai Indians meet on Friday looking to seize their last opportunity to make the IPL final.
Having come up short on their first attempt to make the event finale when they lost to the Super Kings on Tuesday, Bangalore have a second bite of the cherry against a Mumbai outfit who are developing a habit of winning games at the death.
That in itself brings up an interesting point, with the Royal Challengers having missed out on a final spot due to some poor bowling in the final overs. One team's apparent weakness against another's strength sets up an intriguing clash of opposing tactics.
It is, after all, up front where Bangalore like to do their business. With Chris Gayle hammering all before him since his late arrival in the IPL, a good start is imperative to Bangalore's success.
That is not to say that there is not quality further down the order, with AB de Villiers and Virat Kohli two stars of the game. The same can be said for Mumbai; James Franklin and Ambati Rayudu may have been the men to see the Indians home in their last two games but a solid platform up front has been the basis for many of Mumbai's victories.
Indeed, for much of the early stages of the tournament the Mumbai middle-order was not required to produce many innings of substance, with the Little Master at the top of the knock doing most of the hard grafting.
As one would expect from two teams of such stature, it is not only on the batting front that brilliance abounds. Lasith Malinga has destroyed many a line-up for Mumbai with his deadly yorkers, while the pace of Zaheer Khan and spin of Daniel Vettori provide Bangalore with a well-rounded attack.
With two teams so evenly matched, Mumbai's momentum coming into the clash could prove crucial. Having pulled off two dramatic victories in the space of a week, Sachin Tendulkar's men will be on a high, confident that they can chase down any total.
Bangalore do have the benefit of an extra day of rest, something which could be invaluable as they look to regroup from a defeat.
Bangalore have spoken of the need to leave the Chennai game in the past, with Virat Kohli insisting that Bangalore need to "move on now and focus on our next match", a point echoed by skipper Daniel Vettori who commented that the team are still very confident and ready to correct the wrongs of Tuesday night.
Key men:
Bangalore: Without a doubt Chris Gayle is the man of the moment for RCB. Should the powerful West Indian get going there may well be no stopping him or the Royal Challengers.
Mumbai: Lasith Malinga will be looking to stop Gayle early and together with Munaf Patel (who excelled against Kolkata), a handy opening spell could leave Bangalore ripe for the picking.
Likely line-ups:
Bangalore Royal Challengers: Daniel Vettori (captain), Mayank Agarwal, Chris Gayle, Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers (wicketkeeper), Luke Pomersbach, Saurabh Tiwary, Mohammad Kaif, Sreenath Aravind, Zaheer Khan, Abhimanyu Mithun
Mumbai Indians: Sachin Tendulkar (captain), Aiden Blizzard, Rohit Sharma, Kieron Pollard, James Franklin, Ambati Rayudu (wicketkeeper), Tirumalasetti Suman, Harbhajan Singh, Munaf Patel, Lasith Malinga, Dhawal Kulkarni
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