 The Brabourne stadium in Mumbai will host the second game of the third edition
of the Indian Premier League. Mumbai will host Rajasthan in this match,
as the two teams go head to head in trying to overcome their previous season's
debacle and enter the semi-finals in this tournament.
The Mumbai Indians have probably got the biggest coup of the tournament
auctions. They had to shell out the big bucks - almost more than 2 million dollars
- but they have won the services of Kieron Pollard, who should add great value
to the Mumbai Indians' middle order. He is an excellent buy and as an all-rounder,
will not only add value to the brittle Mumbai batting, but also bowl his four
overs of medium pace bowling in the middle overs without much fuss and field
like a champion.
Click Here to Watch Mumbai Indians vs Rajasthan Royals LiveHowever, it is the top-order that will need to succeed for the Mumbai side
once one of the two batsmen, Sachin Tendulkar or Sanath Jayasuriya have
been sent back to the pavilion. With JP Duminy struggling to find his touch,
it will be interesting to see whether he will be selected in the side or if
he will be replaced by someone else - most probably Pollard - in order to make
it easier for the four-foreign player rule.
Rajasthan, to me, is the team to watch out for in the tournament. They had
won the first tournament, and lost out in the second one, and hence will be
interesting to see how they go about their business under a Shane Warne-led
side. Graeme Smith would have recovered from his finger injury and hence
should open in the match, while Swapnil Asnodkar will be the other opener. Apart
from the duo, the other interesting selection could be that of Damien Martyn,
who has been drafted in for this edition only, and at 38 is one of the oldest
to be playing this time around. Whether his sale brings about the desired results
for Warne remains to be seen now.
The two sides have met four times in the two tournaments so far, and apart
from the one abandoned game in 2009, the Rajasthan Royals side leads
the head to head 2-1. For some reason, the Warne-Tendulkar battle has not yet
been ignited, and if it does go that way, then Brabourne is the right place
to be, because it was here that Tendulkar had first smacked the leggie out of
the ground in a domestic match.
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