Kings XI face tough task
Having outplayed the high flying Royal Challengers Bangalore on Saturday, a buoyed up Mumbai Indians host inconsistent Kings XI Punjab at the Wankhede Stadium here on Monday. Mumbai have won their last two games convincingly to put their stuttering campaign back on track.
The John Wrightcoached side have an unbeaten home record in this edition of the Indian Premier League, winning three out of three. Dwayne Smith replacing Ricky Ponting at the top has scored match winning half centuries in the last two games to star in his team’s clinical display.
Smith is also a utility bowler, closing the door on regular skipper Ponting for the moment.
Rohit Sharma has led successfully against top teams like Kolkata Knight Riders and RCB and now he would like to make it a hat-trick of wins. Rohit has been in good batting form and so has been their top scorer Dinesh Karthik, besides Kieron Pollard.
Sachin Tendulkar has played decent knocks at the top to keep the crowd on their feet. He arrived well ahead of schedule and was first to bat in the optional practice session here on Sunday.
Local seamer Dhawal Kulkarni grabbed his chance with a three-wicket haul against RCB and he will provide support to Lasith Malinga and Mitchell Johnson. Mumbai have medium pace options in Smith and Pollard too, while Harbhajan Singh and Pragyan Ojha can spin a web.
Kings XI have had a mixed campaign so far winning four out of eight games. They are coming here from Kolkata after a six-wicket loss. All their players except Azhar Mahmood and David Hussey slugged it out in the sweltering heat on Sunday.
KXIP coach Darren Lehmann said that Mahmood and Hussey were available. “Mahmood is just doing some stuff back in the hotel but he is fine. Hussey has got bit of a flu, but he will be OK,” he said.
Skipper Adam Gilchrist has struggled at the top but his opening partner Mandeep Singh has been a revelation.
David Miller and Hussey along with Manan Vohra make the middle-order fairly decent. Shaun Marsh is also in con- tention for selection and if fit will bolster the batting. “Just got to see how he pulls up after this session,” Lehmann said.
Mahmood has struggled with the bat but has produced with the ball. He should enjoy bowling at the Wankhede along with Praveen Kumar, Manpreet Gony and Parwinder Awana. Piyush Chawla and Bharghav Bhatt are their slow bowling options.
The wicket had good bounce and pace on offer in the last game and if continues the same way, it can be another high scoring affair but the bowlers will be asking questions all the time.