After two successive defeats, 2010 title winner Chennai Super Kings will look to tame an equally desperate defending champion Mumbai Indians to salvage any hope of a semifinal berth at the Champions League Twenty20 here on Saturday.
Chennai Super Kings had made a big splash when it won the Indian Premier League in 2010 and 2011 and also clinched the Champions League title in 2010, but the M.S. Dhoni-led team failed to live up to its reputation in the latest edition of the Twenty20 event as it has suffered successive losses in the tournament so far.
Poor start
The Chennai-based team started its campaign with a 14-run loss to Sydney Sixers and then suffered a six-wicket defeat at the hands of Lions last Tuesday. Given the situation, Dhoni has to come up with something special to take his team through to the semifinals.
Mumbai Indians, too, has had a bumpy ride and is yet to win a match in the tournament. Coming into the tournament as the defending champion, the Harbhajan Singh-led side lost its opening match to Lions by eight wickets, while its next match against Yorkshire was washed out on Thursday night.
With just two matches to go before the semifinal berth is decided, both Chennai and Mumbai will have to play out of their skin, besides praying to the weather gods on Saturday.
Faf du Plessis and Suresh Raina led the Chennai innings in their first match. The rest of the Super Kings batsmen also got decent starts but failed to convert them.
Bowlers disappoint
Bowlers too failed to restrict their opponents in the first two matches as they conceded 185 and 159 runs respectively in the first two matches and they have to take up responsibility if Chennai has to do well tomorrow.
The Mumbai team too is looking for its first win in the event.
It has so far posted almost identical scores (157 and 156) in the first two matches against Lions and Yorkshire respectively.
While West Indies batsman Dwayne Smith has got some runs up the order, it has been hugely let down by Sachin Tendulkar’s lack of form as the India great could manage only 16 and 7 so far.
Just like the Indian team, Mumbai’s batting unit revolves around Tendulkar and the maestro has to come up with a big score tomorrow to help his team put enough runs on board.
The teams (from):
Chennai Super Kings: M.S. Dhoni (captain-wk), R. Ashwin, Michael Hussey, Doug Bollinger, M. Vijay, Faf du Plessis, Ben Hilfenhaus, Nuwan Kulasekara, Albie Morkel, Suresh Raina, Wriddhiman Saha, Ravindra Jadeja, Shadab Jakati, Yomahesh, S. Badrinath.
Mumbai Indians: Harbhajan Singh (captain), Sachin Tendulkar, Richard Levi, Dwayne Smith, Rohit Sharma, Ambati Rayudu, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Thisara Perera, Kieron Pollard, Lasith Malinga, Mitchell Johnson, Munaf Patel, Pragyan Ojha, Dhawal Kulkarni, Suryakumar Yadav.
via The Hindu Newspaper http://www.thehindu.com/sport/cricket/a-clash-between-two-desperate-teams/article4013748.ece
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