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| Sourav Ganguly |
But, Ganguly, who is set to join the squad ahead of Wednesday's match at the DY Patil Stadium, can't be expected to revive the Warriors' flagging fortunes in the fourth edition of the Indian Premier League by himself, and it is to be seen if he takes the field against Mumbai Indians. The Warriors have lost six matches on the trot after winning their first two games and now face a must-win situation in their remaining fixtures starting with the seemingly unstoppable Mumbai Indians, who had defeated them by seven wickets in a low-scoring game at the Wankhede Stadium on April 20.
The reason that the Warriors find themselves in their current position is because they haven't performed as a unit after the first two matches; if the batsmen fire, the bowlers have had a bad day and vice-versa. Sloppy fielding and dropped catches at crucial intervals have also added to the Warriors' woes as has been the failure of Jesse Ryder,Robin Uthappa and Manish Pandey to play any knocks of substance and support their skipper Yuvraj Singh. Ryder has not been among the runs in the last couple of games; Uthappa has not converted his quick 30s into 60+ scores and Pandey has found the going tough. Their bowling unit too with the exception of Alfonso Thomas and Rahul Sharma have failed to impress with the experienced Murali Kartik being the biggest disappointment.
On the other hand, Mumbai Indians got back to their winning ways when they beat Kings XI Punjab by 23 runs yesterday after having had an off-day against Rajasthan Royals in an away game where their strong batting line-up could only score 94 for 8 as the Shane Warne-led team eased home with seven wickets in hand. That blip apart,Mumbai Indians have been by far the strongest and the most well-balanced team in IPL-4, and have all areas covered in their squad. The top-order batsmen have been doing their job with Sachin Tendulkar (327 runs), Ambati Rayudu (263 runs) and Rohit Sharma (221 runs) being well-supported by Andrew Symonds, and Kieron Pollard was back to being at his big-hitting best against Kings XI as he put in a Man-of-the-Match performance in the field and with the ball. Lasith Malinga (19 wickets), who is the runaway leading wicket-taker in IPL-4 has been backed up byMunaf Patel and Harbhajan Singh, who have taken nine wickets each and also been economical. The likes of Ali Murtaza and Abu Nechim have also impressed when given the opportunity, and Pune Warriors will have to play out of their skins to stop the rampaging Mumbai Indians outfit, and keep their faint hopes of advancing to the play- offs alive. A loss to Mumbai Indians would put them out of the reckoning in IPL-4 and the Warriors' remaining matches then would only be of academic interest.
MINI-BATTLES:
Lasith Malinga vs Jesse Ryder: The Warriors' hopes of getting a good start rest mainly with the burly Kiwi and Ryder will have to be at his best to fend off Malinga, who seems to be virtually unstoppable in IPL-4.
Harbhajan Singh vs Yuvraj Singh: MI's off-spinner seems to be getting back to his best form with the ball and he will need to be against Yuvraj, who can hit the white ball a long way at any stage of the innings.
Alfonso Thomas and Rahul Sharma vs Sachin Tendulkar and Ambati Rayudu: The Warriors' two best bowlers would look to get rid of Mumbai Indians' two most prolific batsmen at the earliest to give their team a chance in the contest.
STRENGTHS:
Mumbai Indians have all bases covered and are consistent in the three departments of the game.
The form of Yuvraj Singh with the bat and Alfonso Thomas and Rahul Sharma's form with the ball are the few strong points for the Warriors.
WEAKNESSES:
The search for an opening partner for Sachin Tendulkar as Davy Jacobs hasn't impressed in his stints at the top forMumbai Indians.
Pune Wariors need Ryder, Uthappa and Pandey to fire, Murali Kartik needs to stop leaking runs and start taking wickets and their fielding needs to improve by leaps and bounds.
QUOTES:
"We were waiting for Ashish Nehra's fitness report and ultimately the report came yesterday (Monday). I was already in talks with Ganguly and we decided that the amount of experience that Sourav has in cricket will no doubt help the team. So we finalised Ganguly last night," Pune Warriors Team director Abhijit Sarkar.
MI all-rounder Kieron Pollard in 'The Hindu' on his role: "The challenge is to perform when you get a chance in pressure situations. T20 is a game where momentum swings in the short space of say three overs. You should deliver when the team wants."
FORM RECORD:
Pune Warriors - LLLLLLWW
Mumbai Indians - WLWWWLWWWW
VENUE AND PITCH:
The DY Patil Stadium, which was inaugurated on March 4, 2008, has a capacity of 60,000 and the stadium roof isIndia's first and largest fabric roof. The light masts are the tallest in India and provide excellent lighting throughout the ground. The outfield is sand based and in combination with a concealed underground drainage system serves to minimise any interruption because of rain.
The pitch at the DY Patil Stadium traditionally has something in it for the bowlers and the batsmen need to work a bit harder to score runs.
WEATHER FORECAST: There may be some clouds in Navi Mumbai on Wednesday morning, but they are expected to clear from the afternoon onwards. The maximum temperature for this match scheduled to start at 8pm IST will be around 27 degrees.
