http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Mumbai-c820 Indians – CLT20 2012 – Group B – Match Preview
The star-studded Mumbai Indians will be facing the local South African side, Highveld Lions, in the 4th match of the Champions League T20 2012, at the New Wanderers stadium, Johannesburg, today. While the Indian side entered the tournament’s main
draw amidst criticism, they are no doubt the title defenders this year, after skipper http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Harbhajan-Singh-c61453 led them to victory in the last season.
Coming in fourth in this year’s Indian Premier League (the qualifying tournament for Indian teams), the Mumbai franchise did not merit a direct entry into the tournament proper (reserved for only the top three teams), however, they made it through, and that
is the way it is.
The local boys on the other hand, lack the star power of Mumbai, but form a formidable unit nonetheless. http://www.senore.com/Cricket/AN-Petersen-c1028 are the more renowned of
the bunch, and certainly able to put the Indian side to the test. While Nannes, O’Reilly and Tanvir make up the pace battery, Bodi, de Bruyn, McKenzie and Petersen will largely take up the batting responsibilities. Youngster http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Quinton-de-Kock-c82885 may be one to watch
out for, after the 19-year-old came through as the team’s highest scorer in the MiWay T20 Challenge, which also saw the Lions finish as runners up.
The Mumbai side, boasting the likes of http://www.senore.com/Cricket/SL-Malinga-c2540 and none other than the Little Master himself, are the undoubtedly the favourites on
paper, chart, table, board, or anything else for that matter.
With most of the Mumbai contingent having International experience, not many teams would fancy their chances against this lineup. However, incidentally, the 2010 edition of the CLT20 saw these very teams battle it out in the first match, with the Lions,
against all odds, coming up on top. Having put up 186 on the board, the South African locals were successfully able to defend their total at the same New Wanderers Stadium, which is also their home ground.
Back then, even the local crowd was not backing the home side, something which may have changed this time around. "They will come at us this time around. In 2010, they were the favourites to win and we just did things well. One or two guys made big plays
for us. This time will want to prove a point. They won't want to lose to the same opposition twice," shared Lions’ skipper, Alviro Petersen.
The weather forecast for Johannesburg reads partly cloudy, with around 10% chance of precipitation. Purely in terms of runs scored, the Wanderers Stadium has seen its share of high-scoring T20 Internationals, with http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Sri-Lanka-c758 scoring the highest (260), followed
by http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Thomas-George-Burrows-c93472ched a possibility.
Lions 15-man squad: T Bavuma, GH Bodi, Z de Bruyn, Q de Kock, ND http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Sohail-Tanvir-c90665, J Symes, TL Tsolekile†
Mumbai Indians 15-man squad: Harbhajan Singh*, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/SR-Tendulkar-c2556, SA Yadav
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