The second match on Tuesday will see the Mumbai Indians take on the Kings XI Punjab at Pretoria, and both will be eyeing that elusive semi-final berth.
The Mumbai Indians are currently on nine points from ten games, where as the Kings XI Punjab are only a point ahead in the same number of games. The winner in this game will leapfrog over Rajasthan Royals in the points table to the fourth place and with a bright chance of getting into the semi-final. Every team plays 14 matches each.
Mumbai Indians (10/11 at 888Sports to beat Punjab) have had an inconsistent tournament so far; winning easily against Chennai and Kolkata to start with, but losing to Punjab, Deccan Chargers, Delhi and Bangalore after that, before beating the Royal Challengers again. Kings XI Punjab (19/20 at Sporting Bet to win match) almost seem to be the replica; having lost the first couple of games, then winning three on a trot to be followed by another bout of losing and winning.
Punjab’s batting is centered around Yuvraj Singh (9/2 at Coral to be top scorer for Punjab) and his early failures was one of the causes for Punjab’s abysmal performances. Kumar Sangakkara (7/2 at Bet365 to be top scorer for Punjab) did pull the team out of trouble on most occasions in the beginning of the tournament, where as it has been Mahela Jayawardene (11/2 at 888Sport to be top scorer for Punjab) who has taken over this mantle in the last few games. What ails the team is that they need to gel together as a batting unit and try and get to bigger scores.
Simon Katich (9/2 at Boylesports to be top Punjab scorer) is slowly getting his touch back, as was evident by his half century against Chennai, and should continue opening against the Mumbai Indians. My sense is that his chance of getting to the top score for his team is high, given that he will also open the inning.
Mumbai Indians had brought Sanath Jayasuriya (4/1 at Ladbrokes to be highest Mumbai scorer) back for the previous match after an experiment with Luke Ronchi, and though he did not get to a big score, his partnership with Ajinkya Rahane (previous game’s top scorer and 7/1 at Paddy Power to be top Mumbai scorer) ensured that the Indians were on solid ground. While Sachin Tendulkar continues to remain a batsman who cannot be ignored, J.P.Duminy (7/2 at Ladbrokes to be Mumbai’s best batsman) seems to have been assigned the role of seeing the inning through, which he seems to have done well. It is Dwayne Bravo’s (8/1 at 888Sport to be the highest Mumbai scorer) batting which has been relatively quieter and he will do well to fire today; probably even get a promotion up the order.
The bowling will rest in the hands of two of the quicker men in international bowling, Brett Lee (9/2 at Stan James to be most economical bowler) and Lasith Malinga (11/4 at Stan James to be most economical bowler). Lee’s return to the side after his injury was a decent one to begin with, while Malinga looked to have lost his sheen in the last couple. I back him to come good against Punjab. S.Sreesanth (11/2 at Stan James to be most economical bowler) bowled well in most of his overs to be smashed around in his last over in both the matches and Yuvraj will do well to keep him away from the slog overs.
Tips:
Favourites: Mumbai (10/11 at 888Sports)
Top Mumbai batsman: Dwayne Bravo (8/1 at 888Sport)
Top Punjab batsman: Kumar Sangakkara (7/2 at Bet365)
Most economical bowler: S. Sreesanth (11/2 at Stan James)
