Mumbai Indians are all set to play a bruised and battered Kings XI Punjab side in the 28th match of the ongoing season five of the esteemed Indian Premier League at the Wankhede Stadium Mumbai, today, April 22, 2012.
The hosts have had a five-day rest since their seven-wicket crushing at the hands of Delhi Daredevils and will be looking for a stellar performance from the big names including the likes of Rohit Sharma, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/KA-Pollard-c1754 and Richard Levi, who all have been
inconsistent in the tournament so far.
Mumbai Indians, the runners up of last season, are one of the strongest teams of the season on paper but they have not yet performed to potential. Batting has been their major let down so far, with http://www.senore.com/Cricket/SR-Tendulkar-c2556 injured while rest of the batsmen in the
top and middle order are off colour. The side paid the price for some irresponsible batting in their previous game where the Daredevils’ attack bundled them out for a meagre 92, their second-lowest IPL total in five seasons.
However, the side got a big boost ahead of the KXIP game as the Little Master has been declared fit and will, in all probability, open today alongside http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Richard-Levi-c2315. Tendulkar had sustained an injury to his right Index finger in the curtain raiser of the
IPL5 when he was hit on the hand by a slow rising delivery off http://www.senore.com/Cricket/DE-Bollinger-c1348. The Master Blaster was forced to retire hurt in that particular match and missed the subsequent four games.
In his absence, the MI selectors tried Ambati Rayudu and http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Thomas-George-Burrows-c93472 Suman to partner Levi, but none of them has succeeded. Levi himself failed to create the impact expected of the South African. His only notable performance in the last five MI games had come against
Chennai in the tournament opener (50 off 35 balls). In the next four games, the aggressive http://www.senore.com/Cricket/South-Africa-c757 opener returned with scores of 0, 3, 29 and 1.
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/JEC-Franklin-c1684 and Thisara Perera a chance on Sunday.
The excitement of Tendulkar’s return has been, to some extent, cancelled out by http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Sri-Lanka-c758 on the morning of the KXIP match to get a treatment for back spasms
he had sustained during the seven-wicket loss to http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Delhi-c780. ‘Slinga’ Malinga, last year’s purple cap winner, is likely to stay out of action for close to two weeks.
Malinga has been a consistent performer and will be badly missed by the home side today. Countrymen http://www.senore.com/Cricket/MG-Johnson-c1945 and Clint McKay will be vying to replace Malinga as the lead striker bowler.
Having claimed only one wicket in five games, Bhajji has also failed to make an impression with the ball. The hosts would look for an impressive show from their skipper in today’s game.
With two wins in six games so far, the Kings XI Punjab side has also been hot and cold so far. Adam Gilchrist’s men kick-started the season with back-to-back defeats before winning two games in a row against Pune http://www.senore.com/Cricket/India-c750 and Kolkata Knight Riders.
The side once again fell cheaply in the next two games and find themselves 8th on the standings, just ahead of the winless Deccan Chargers. Preity Zinta’s KXIP need to lift themselves from the bottom half of the table in a hurry, otherwise they
will find themselves out of the race for the title. David Hussey will continue standing in, if Gilchrist fails to recover from the hamstring strain.
The hosts’ batting will rely heavily on the overseas trio of David Hussey, Shaun http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Simon-James-Marshall-c90362 and Azhar Mahmood. Marsh has been a consistent performer for Punjab so far in the league while Mahmood, who last week joined the KXIP outfit, showed glimpses of what he
is capable of in the previous match against Royal Challengers, where he scored a 14-ball 33.
Piyush Chawla will lead the spin attack while http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Parvinder-Awana-c80792 (who returned with 4 for 34 against RCB) will spearhead the pace battery. Experienced pace bowler Praveen Kumar, who is yet to open his account this season, will be under immense pressure to perform.
A good sporting wicket, equally supportive for bat and ball, is expected to welcome the two outfits on Sunday afternoon.
Probable XIs:
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/PP-Ojha-c2198, 11 Munaf
Patel
Kings XI http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Harmeet-Singh-c1533
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