Bangalore braces up for Mumbai

Chinnaswamy stadium gets ready for its opening IPL IV match as RCB face Mumbai today

Having begun their campaign on a thumping note with a six-wicket win over new entrants Kochi Tuskers Kerala, the Royal Challengers Bangalore face a stern test against Mumbai Indians, who too were off to a winning start crushing Delhi Daredevils by eight wickets on Sunday.

Mumbai have been a bogey team of sorts for the Challengers, especially in the last year. The Bangalore side hasn’t been able to crack the Mumbai puzzle in the last three matches with one of those defeats even denying them a second shot at the IPL title the last time around. With new captain Daniel Vettori at the helm and a largely new set of players at their disposal, Challengers will hope to reverse the trend.

While on one hand they seek a change in fortunes against a formidable outfit on the field, at the same time they would be looking forward to the same boisterous support from home fans in the aftermath of a changed team combination. Among all other IPL franchises, RCB had most assiduously built their fan base through various promotional programmes involving their players but having lost some of those key men -- who had struck a strong chord with the audience -- during the last auction, it would be interesting to see how enthusiastically the local supporters embrace the new-comers.

While winning the loyalty all over again in itself would be mini-challenge, the greater test would come from their rivals on the field. Mumbai exhibited their prowess in no small measure against an admittedly weakened Delhi the other night. An explosive bowling show, which blew the Daredevils away, was followed by a clinical batting approach led by none other than their skipper Sachin Tendulkar, sending out an ominous sign to their opponents.

Other big threats for the RCB bowlers come from Keiron Pollard, who was Mumbai’s lynchpin in two of their last three matches, and Rohit Sharma, formerly with Deccan Chargers. The likes of Ambati Rayudu and Rajagopal Satish, too, have the capacity to inflict huge damage.

The bigger threat, however, will come in the form of Lasith Malinga. The Sri Lankan slinger virtually yorked the Daredevils into submission with a five-wicket haul and with a quality back-up in Harbhajan Singh and Munaf Patel, the much-vaunted RCB batting line-up will have its job cut out after acquitting itself well in the opening game against Kochi. Though the side looks fearsome as it is, Mumbai would love to add Andrew Symonds, if fit, to their final XI. 

Notwithstanding the presence of two world-class bowlers in the shape of Zaheer Khan and Vettori, Challengers’ bowling appears to be their weaker link at the moment. It’s indeed tough to append bowlers of the calibre of Anil Kumble, Dale Steyn, Praveen Kumar and R Vinay Kumar and the apparent lack of bite in the line-up did surface during the game against Kochi. RCB’s huge investments in AB de Villiers, Vettori and Saurabh Tiwary appeared justified as all three came up with good performances of varying degrees. Tillakaratne Dilshan came a cropper but he can be banked upon to negate the effect of Malinga. Railways’ all-rounder Asad Pathan turned out to be quite a surprise package while Virat Kohli looked as assured as ever.

On the local front, A Mithun was disappointing but Mayank Agarwal was refreshing with his uncomplicated and uncluttered approach. How the youngster fares against a better-equipped Mumbai attack, remains to be seen.


Teams (from): Royal Challengers: Daniel Vettori (capt), Tillakaratne Dilshan, Mayank Agarwal, Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers, Saurabh Tiwary, Cheteswar Pujara, Asad Pathan, Zaheer Khan, Dirk Nannes, A Mithun, Mohd Kaif, Charl Langeveldt, Nuwan Pradeep, Johan van der Wath, Jonathan Vandiar, Arun Karthik, CM Gautam, S Arvind, Ryan Ninan, Rile Roussouw, Luke Pomersbach, Abrar Kazi, BN Bharath.

Mumbai Indians: Sachin Tendulkar (capt), Davy Jacobs, A Rayudu, Rohit Sharma, Rajgopal Sathish, Kieron Pollard, James Franklin, Harbhajan Singh, Ali Murtuza, Munaf Patel, Lasith Malinga, T Suman, Aiden Bilzzard, Andrew Symonds, Yuzvendra Chahal, Dhawal Kulkarni, Sarul Kanwar, Moises Henriques, Pawan Suyal, Aditya Tare, Dilhara Fernando, Santosh Yadav.