 The
Mumbai Indians will take on the Pune Warriors India in the 21st match of
this season's Indian Premier League. The game will be played at the Mumbai's Wankhede
Stadium where the final of the ICC Cricket World Cup had been played. Mumbai Indians
and the Pune Warriors have both got four points from three games.
Mumbai Indians go into the game with two wins in the three games so far. They
started with with a win over the Delhi Daredevils at the Kotla before going
to Bangalore to beat the Royal Challengers Bangalore. Kochi Tuskers then had
the better of them, as they scored the 180 plus score needed for the win. The
Warrior also won two in two before being thwarted by the Delhi Daredevils in
the third game.
Click for Live Score Card of Mumbai Indians Vs Pune Warriors
The game will be played at the Wankhede Stadium where the batting is definitely
much easier than bowling. However a lot will depend o the dew factor which has
hindered the sides a lot, however, given that the game will be played at 4 pm,
it remains to be seen whether the dew really has any effect on the bowling.
Mumbai Indians should not change their playing eleven. After all they have
a strong side which has won them two games in a row. Kieron Pollard and
Andrew Symonds have not had a bat in the tournament so far because of the way
in which Sachin Tendulkar and Ambati Rayadu have batted in the tournament so
far and things will need to be tweaked a little as one of those power-hitters
need to be promoted up the order.
The bowling depends on Lasith Malinga, while Munaf Patel and Harbhajan
Singh need to rediscover their form if they want to do well against the Pune
Warriors.
Pune Warriors have had a good three games with the bat in their hand but it
is the bowling that has struggled. Alfonso Thomas and Srikanth Wagh did well
in the first game of the tournament but have since taken a step or two back.
Ashish Nehra or Mitchell Marsh may get into the playing eleven.
The Mumbai Indians will hope that Murtaza Ali can slow it down a little and
get going with the ball. On the other hand, the Warriors will look at Yuvraj
Singh to provide them with the breakthrough.
One gets the sense that the Mumbai Indians will be favourites to win
this one.
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