Doug Bollinger v Sachin Tendulkar
Sachin Tendulkar's decision to relieve himself of the Mumbai captaincy could be bad news for other teams. Having recently got the monkey of 100 international centuries off his back, Tendulkar will not have the pressure of captaincy on his shoulders in IPL 5, and there is enough reason to believe that this will allow him to bat in a more dominating manner.
Doug Bollinger, Chennai's left-arm quick, has proven an accurate and hostile prospect with the new ball and has often provided strikes at the top. How he bowls to Tendulkar could be captivating, considering neither bowler nor batsman is prone to going onto the defensive. Bollinger has found lift from the MA Chidambaram Stadium pitch before, and is likely to test out a 38-year-old Tendulkar.
Versus Bollinger, Tendulkar has scored 14 runs in 20 deliveries across three matches in two seasons of the IPL, with the Australian bowler claiming his wicket once during IPL 4 in a match Mumbai won by eight runs. In that match, the 37th of the tournament, Tendulkar faced only eight deliveries and all were bowled by Bollinger. Tendulkar was dismissed by Bollinger too, undone by a sharp bouncer that gained on him and drew the edge to the slips. A repeat would send the Chennai crowd, known to support Tendulkar at full tilt when he plays for India, into raptures. Equally, should Tendulkar come out aggressively against Bollinger, you can expect the fans to have plenty to clap about.
Lasith Malinga v Suresh Raina
Suresh Raina's stock as an international player has fallen – he has scored just three half-centuries in 18 ODI innings going back to October 2011 – and his troubles against quality short-pitched bowling has been a feature throughout. Malinga is one of the toughest bowlers to get away in Twenty20 cricket, and remains Mumbai's best chance at taking wickets. Raina remains a pivotal player for Chennai, if not their biggest match-winner, and Mumbai will need Malinga to rattle him early. How Malinga varies his devilish yorkers and speedy bouncers against Raina is another battle to watch out for. The Sri Lankan speedster could be itching to dismiss Raina, having failing to do so in the IPL's history (he has conceded 32 runs off 30 balls bowled to Raina in five matches across two seasons).
Rohit Sharma v Ravindra Jadeja
On the one side is Rohit Sharma, an outrageously talented batsman yet to cash his cheque at the international level. On the other is Ravindra Jadeja, an spin-bowling allrounder who many feel – and with good reason – is overrated as an international player. Rohit joined the Mumbai set-up ahead of IPL 3, while Jadeja is now with Chennai having been purchased for a jaw-dropping $20 million in this year's auction. How one player, widely believed to be more talented than the batsmen who have leapfrogged him in the Indian team, pits himself against the other, who will have to justify his exorbitant price tag, could be exciting to watch too. They are undoubtedly major players for their respective teams, and considering the quagmire that Indian cricket finds itself in, the two could seriously benefit from a strong IPL season.
R Ashwin v Kieron Pollard
Aggressive batsman? Check. Aggressive spinner? Check. Kieron Pollard against R Ashwin is another appetizing prospect. Pollard has often treated spinners with disdain in the IPL, but up against a master of the Twenty20 format he could be in for a duel. Ashwin has proven himself with the new ball in the IPL, and has dismissed some big names; perhaps most famously he snared Chris Gayle for 0 in the final of the 2011 IPL, having got Gayle's wicket cheaply in the first Qualifier a few days earlier.
Incredibly, Pollard has only faced Ashwin once in the IPL, during a league match in 2010 in Chennai. In that match, he scored just two runs off four balls faced from the Chennai offspinner before skying a catch to the deep. If Ashwin has overs left by the time Pollard walks out – MS Dhoni does not normally keep him for the latter half of an innings – it will be fascinating to watch how the West Indian treats him.
Harbhajan Singh v MS Dhoni
Bitter from being dropped from the national team last year, Harbhajan Singh – now in the role of Mumbai captain – has plenty to prove in the IPL. He has tasted success as leader of the franchise in last year's Champions League Twenty20 which Mumbai won, but his bowling of late on the domestic circuit for Punjab has been disappointing. For Harbhajan, IPL 5 is a big platform to launch a comeback. He needs wickets, and lots of them, and perhaps the captaincy will further inspire him to excel. Leading arguably the second best team on paper, with the title of Champions League winner on his chest – Mumbai beat Chennai in the tournament last year – Harbhajan has some serious pressure riding on him.
His opposite number, Dhoni, is coming off a poor tour of Australia and the Asia Cup, in which India failed to reach the final. With an excellent track record with Chennai and a well-knit unit that he can rely on, Dhoni can take plenty of confidence. He has admitted previously that captaining Chennai – whose owner is also the BCCI president – is often tougher than leading India and those words could ring loudly in Dhoni's head this season. Chennai are defending champions, and getting off to a strong start is crucial.
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Following a comprehensive 8 wicket win against Chennai in the tournament opener, Mumbai will be a confident lot when they take on Pune in the third match of IPL 5. Mumbai start as favourites although Pune will be looking to prevent them from taking any momentum.
Head to Head: Mumbai faced Pune twice in the previous edition of the IPL and they ended up winning both games. The first match was a tight affair with Mumbai securing a 7 wicket win off the last ball while chasing 119. Mumbai's second win against Pune was a far more comfortable one as they won by 21 runs while defending a total of 160.
Mumbai: What was witnessed in their comfortable win against Chennai in the opening game of the tournament was that Mumbai struck the right cord in terms of finding the team balance. It was an all-round effort as Mumbai played as an unit with all the members chipping in with valuable contributions. Pragyan Ojha shined with the ball and so did Lasith Malinga and Kieron Pollard as Mumbai restricted Chennai to 112. During the chase, Richard Levi, who was playing his maiden IPL game, proved why he is a T20 sensation as he smashed a 35-ball 50. James Franklin and Ambati Rayudu also did their bit with the bat, helping the team reach the target. As far as batting failures are concerned, Mumbai had just one with Rohit Sharma falling for a duck. In the bowling department there were a couple of concerns as Franklin had an expensive outing despite picking up a wicket while Harbhajan Singh went wicketless. However, in defence of Mumbai's new skipper, it must be said that he bowled pretty tightly, not letting the batsmen score easily off him. what was impressive about Harbhajan was that he led the team well, making the right calls for most part of the game. Over all, Mumbai have a balanced squad and have started on the right note. They will be looking to continue in the same vein and make their form count.
Team News: There is an injury concern in the Mumbai camp - Sachin Tendulkar was hit on his in his left-hand while trying to fend a Doug Bollinger delivery and had to retire hurt. It is still not clear whether it is fracture or a simple bruise. In case it turns out to be the latter, Mumbai are unlikely to make any changes to their eleven.
Pune: While they are missing the services of key players like Yuvraj Singh and Graeme Smith, Pune will be hoping that their current skipper and former India captain Sourav Ganguly can inspire the team in this edition of the IPL. Pune, who had a miserable last year, finishing 9th on the points table, will be hoping for a fresh start. The Sahara-owned team is capable of finishing as a top side as it does have a quality line-up of players. Robin Uthappa and Manish Pandey have played valuable role in the IPL before, although with a different team. Pune also have players of international quality in Jesse Ryder and Marlon Samuels, who are proven match-winners. In Sourav Ganguly, Pune have one of the best captains to have led India. Tamim Iqbal is also a quality player and his form in the recent times has been impressive and that will be a big boost for the Pune Warriors. They also have a decent bowling line up with pacers like Wayne Parnell, Ashok Dinda, Ashish Nehra and Alfonso Thomas. As far as spin bowling options are concerned, Pune have plenty of variety there. Rahul Sharma, who impressed all with a good showing in IPL 2011, will have a key role to play and Pune can also pick from the likes of Murali Karthik, Nathan McCullum Steven Smith and Ali Murtaza. All Ganguly will be hoping is for his team to get into the act straight-away.
Team News: Graeme Smith was ruled out of the tournament as he had to undergo an operation to his ankle. Apart from that, there aren't any injury concerns for Pune. However, there are a couple of overseas players missing from the line-up - Angelo Mathews is currently playing the second Test against Sri Lanka and will miss Pune's first two matches while Michael Clarke can only join the team after April 27 on completion of the West Indies tour.
Upcoming Milestones:
# Robin Uthappa is one short of registering 50 sixes in the IPL. He will become the 10th player to achieve that mark.
# Lasith Malinga has taken 63 wickets in the IPL and he needs to more to surpass RP Singh as the highest wicket-taker.