Tendulkar to lead Mumbai to IPL final
Before 2010, Sachin Tendulkar’s Mumbai Indians had failed to live up to the expectations the Little Master’s captaincy naturally entailed but this year they’ve set the pace for the competition.
After snatching the top spot on the points table early in the series, Mumbai tightened their grip on it as the competition wore on and were the first team to lock in a place in the semi-finals after missing out on a top-four finish in the first two years of the competition.
Now that they are there though, what has gone before counts for nought and stringing together two wins is all that matters.
The team with the unenviable task of stopping the Mumbai juggernaut are the Royal Challengers Bangalore, who finished with seven wins and seven losses in the regular season - three less wins than Mumbai managed.
It has been Tendulkar who has led from the front for Mumbai this season, the skipper finishing atop the run-scoring table at the conclusion of the 56-match IPL season, having accumulated 561 runs from the 13 matches he played.
Anil Kumble’s Bangalore, however, have all-rounder Jacques Kallis who is second to Tendulkar on the run-scoring table with 542 runs from his 14 matches so far in their XI.
Both Tendulkar and Kallis are capable of turning a match off their own bats, but after starting the season with a flourish and proving near impossible to remove from the crease, the runs have dried up somewhat for the burly South African as the season has progressed. Now would be the ideal time for Kallis to rediscover his early-season form, but it’s Tendulkar who has offered more consistency across the series.
Mumbai have also been better than most at extracting the best out of their Indian team members as well as the four overseas players permitted each match in the 2010 season. Saurabh Tiwary hasn’t missed a match for the series, and has rewarded his team with 367 runs so far, while another local batsman in Ambati Rayudu has added 295 runs of his own.
Depending on their selections for this match, Mumbai also have an Indian player who has blossomed into one of the best fielders in the third season of the IPL in R Sathish, a skill that can’t be underrated in this fast-moving brand of cricket.
Bangalore though have Robin Uthappa, whose match-winning 68 from 39 balls against the Chennai Super Kings earlier in the season is indicative of just how destructive the 24-year-old can be when he gets his eye in. Add Rahul Dravid to that mix along with England’s Kevin Pietersen and Bangalore has a selection of batsmen, including Kallis, who could each take a match by the scruff of the neck.
The problem is that last time Mumbai and Bangalore played, in the 52nd match of the season, Tendulkar’s team were able to contain that quartet, along with opener Manish Pandey to run out 57-run winners. That was in Bangalore, and with the security concerns that resulted from explosions outside Chinnaswamy Stadium before that match leading to the relocation of the semis to Mumbai, Tendulkar’s team will have an extra edge for this match.
Mumbai were without slinger Lasith Malinga (13 wickets) for their last match against Bangalore, he’s been rested in the lead-up to the semi-finals, but he’ll no doubt rejoin a potent bowling attack that also includes spinner Harbhajan Singh (15 wickets), the West Indies Kieron Pollard, who also adds to Mumbai’s batting depth, and Indian paceman Zaheer Khan (14 wickets) in the XI to face Bangalore in the semi.
While Mumbai’s bowlers spread the load, Bangalore will rely on the experience of spearhead Dale Steyn (12 wickets) and Kumble’s spin (12 wickets) to guide the relatively inexperienced medium-pacer Vinay Kumar (16 wickets) in what will be one of the highest pressure matches he’s so far played in his career.
Both teams finished the regular season with a loss, but there should be no concerns that Mumbai were fairly comprehensively beaten by a Kolkata Knight Riders side that were playing only for pride, as Mumbai had made five changes to their side for that match, including resting their captain.
With Tendulkar back at the helm, Mumbai are the complete package and should be able to account for the much more inconsistent Bangalore with the support of the home crowd at DY Patil Stadium behind them.
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