Two teams that have shown the promise but failed to deliver on big occasions come face to face when Mumbai Indians and Royal Challengers Bangalore clash min their opening match of the Indian Premier League here tomorrow.
The Mumbai Indians are the big-spending side and have the Champions League Twenty20 Trophy to show for all the money shelled out on acquiring star players. Besides, Mumbai have also been runners-up once and semifinalists twice in the previous IPL seasons.
With Ricky Ponting as captain this time, Mumbai would be hoping to lay their hands on the IPL trophy for the first time. In the batting department, Ambati Rayudu and Rohit Sharma would be looking to continue from where he left in the mprevious IPL where they amassed 333 and 433 runs respectively.
Senior batsman Sachin Tendulkar would open with either Dwayne Smith or James Franklin, both of whom can contribute to the team with their bowling as well. Also Ponting, who has had a good outing in Australia’s Big Bash and Shield Cricket tournaments since retiring from Test cricket, would be an asset at number three.
Dinesh Karthik would give solidity to the middle-order. Boasting of three prolific wicket-takers in the IPL so far Sri Lankan Lasith Malinga, Pragyan Ojha and Munaf Patel Mumbai Indians look a well-balanced side. However, spinners were a tad disappointing for them in IPL-5 with Harbhajan Singh hardly making any impact. He mscalped six wickets in 17 matches, while Ojha claimed nine wickets in as many matches.
