 IPL 2010 runners-up Mumbai Indians will begin their IPL 2011 campaign with
a match against the Delhi Daredevils at Delhi. The Indian opening pair
of Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag will lead Mumbai and Delhi respectively
and this makes this match even more interesting and is being seen as a master
versus the blaster clash.
Mumbai Indians look a much better team on paper when compared to Delhi Daredevils.
Led by the maestro Sachin Tendulkar, Mumbai Indians boast of the big
hitting Davy Jacobs, Kieron Pollard and Andrew Symonds. Mumbai had retained
Tendulkar, Harbhajan Singh, Pollard and Lasith Malinga from their previous squad.
The inclusion of Andrew Symonds adds teeth to their batting and his medium pacers
and off spinners could prove handy on Indian pitches.
Click for Live Score Card of Delhi Daredevils Vs Mumbai Indians
Mumbai also have some of the best known Indian batsmen like Rohit Sharma, Tirumalasetti
Suman, Rajagopal Sathish and Ambati Rayudu too who could prove crucial in familiar
Indian conditions. Rohit Sharma has had a decent stint with Deccan Chargers
and his late innings exploits are well known. Bowling wise Mumbai have Malinga
and Harbhajan to share bulk of the responsibilities and presence of James Franklin,
Dilhara Fernando, Dilhara Fernando, Munaf Patel has given them more options
to form a formidable combination.
Delhi too will be tough team to beat, especially at their home ground. Delhi
might have lost on some of their key players like Gautam Gambhir, Daniel Vettori
and others but the team still has enough firepower in it. In Sehwag and David
Warner, they have an explosive opening pair but their middle order and lower
middle order is still untested and this could prove a bane to the Delhi unit.
James Hopes, Irfan Pathan and Roelof van der Merwe provide the all-round
options for Sehwag but their bowling surely lacks the quality that is required
to succeed at this level.
Only Morne Morkel and Andrew McDonald can be named as an effective options while
bowlers like Ajit Agarkar and Ashok Dinda can fill up the third and fourth bowlers'
slot. Much of Delhi's fortunes will depend upon their trump card openers and their
Indian players like Naman Ojha, Sridharan Sriram and Venugopal Rao. The only worrying
factor for Delhi could be the absence of one match-winning all rounder or a quality
spinner that can fill the shoes of Vettori and Amit Mishra.
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