The Royal Challengers Bangalore will take on the Mumbai Indians at the Port Elizabeth on Sunday, and the game assumes proportions of must-win for Mumbai.
Stumbling from one loss to another, Mumbai was one of the favourites to clinch the crown, but is languishing at the seventh spot in the points table and Stan James offer 20/1 for them to now get hold of the trophy from this stage.
The Royal Challengers (31/2 at Betfair to win tournament), on the other hand, had started the tournament badly, but regained a bit of lost ground to lie at the fifth spot with eight points. A win here could get them into the top four of the points table.
The two had met in a match before, in this tournament this year, and the Royal Challengers had handed over a nine-wicket drubbing to the Mumbai Indians. Since then, Mumbai (8/11 at Sky Bet to win match) have gone from one defeat to another, and this has been thanks to a lack of any batting effort or co-ordination.
Sanath Jayasuriya (10/3 at Sky Bet) was left out of the playing eleven, on expected lines, and Luke Ronchi was brought in. However, the experiment failed and Ronchi was run-out without scoring a single run. One does get a sense that Ronchi (4/1 at Sky Bet to be top Mumbai batsman) could be persisted with for at least one match and that could also mean that Jayasuriya remains out of the eleven again.
The experiment to send J.P. Duminy (10/3 at Sky Bet to be top Mumbai batsman) as an opener wasn’t successful either, and it looks like Tendulkar (11/4 at Sky Bet to be top Mumbai batsman) will need to get back to his opening slot sooner rather than later. And if the top order continues to fail, then the batting workload will have to be managed by the duo of Dwayne Bravo (6/1 at Stan James to be top Mumbai scorer) and Abhishek Nayar (10/1 at Stan James to be top Mumbai scorer).
Bangalore (11/10 at Sky Bet to win match), on the other hand, have had a transformation in their team from when they had first played. That has mainly to do with the change in personnel, but more so, one feels, because of the change in captaincy.
Jacques Kallis (3/1 at Stan James to be top Bangalore batsman) continues being the favourite to top the run-scoring chart, but he should have stiff competition from Rahul Dravid (5/1 at Sky Bet), who had a rare duck to his name and should be raring to get back to his run-scoring ways. Wasim Jaffer’s experiment seems to have failed and he could soon be replaced at the top, by someone like a Sreevats Goswami (9/2 at Sky Bet to open the inning).
Robin Uthappa (9/2 at Stan James to score the best for Bangalore) has played a couple of innings that could turn his fortunes around and that means he continue continue batting in the top three.
Lasith Malinga of the Mumbai Indians hasn’t had a good last couple of games, but, Stan James offer 11/4 for him being the most economical bowler of all. Dale Steyn (9/2 at Stan James to be most economic bowler) hasn’t played in almost half the tournament, and could be unleashed against Mumbai; but the question that the coach Ray Jennings will need to answer is whether he will be able to shuffle around the boys to that effect without disturbing the balance.
Tips
Favourites: Mumbai (8/11 Sky Bet)
Top Bangalore batsman: Jacques Kallis (3/1 at Stan James)
Top Mumbai batsman: J.P.Duminy (10/3 at Stan James)
