Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Mumbai Indians v King's X1 Punjab - Preview

Big Game
In all likelihood, it is going to be Mumbai, Punjab, Rajasthan and Chennai that are going to make it through to the semifinals, and so this one is a big game - it will give us an idea of which team is stronger going into the last 4. Mumbai have a 6-4 record to Punjab's 7-3 but if Mumbai win tomorrow they can level it up and probably go as high as No. 2 on the table. It will be a really unbelievable run of 7 wins after the first 4 losses. Mumbai is the team with all the momentum, but again, one feels they have got to slip at some point and what better team than Punjab to take advantage of that ? Bravo's departure will be a major blow for Mumbai and Punjab will do well to exploit it. However if the Pollock-Jayasuriya combination fires again, there is little that Yuvraj and his men will be able to do.

Punjab's Outstanding Record
King's X1 Punjab have a splendid 7-3 record but somehow I still feel they are not as good a team as their record suggests. Part of the reason for this could be that Chennai has beaten them, quite comfortably, twice. Three of their 7 wins have come against Bangalore and Hyderabad, one against an out-of-form Mumbai, and one - a bit of a lottery against Delhi thanks to Duckworth and Lewis and Sehwag.

Teams
For Mumbai the big question - who will replace Bravo ? They have got Nel and Smith as cover, but Nel is no batter and Smith is no bowler - well, not in the same league as Bravo, anyway. Pollock had a slight niggle - will he be fit enough ? Will Tendulkar find the touch at last ?

For Punjab, what is interesting is whether Sangakarra will be fit - for he will be crucial in negotiating Pollock. Otherwise, the team has a fairly settled look. Interesting to see how Sreesanth goes in this game after what happened the last time the two teams met.

Revenge Battles
Well, the biggest of them is not going to happen, thankfully, because Harbhajan won't be around to take on Sreesanth.
Other than that
Pathan v Nehra
Sangakkra v Pollock, Kulkarni
Yuvraj v Pollock
Sreesanth v Kulkarni
Sreesanth, VRV v Uthappa, Pollock
Pathan v Nayyar

No comments: