Indian Premier League - IPL / Edward Hammond-Kenny / 28 March 2010 /

Punjab's batting unit needs to fire if they are to stand a chance against Tendulkar's Mumbai, says Ed Hammond-Kenny

Venue and Conditions

Match 27 of the IPL is a clash between top and bottom of the table. The Mumbai Indians led by Sachin Tendulkar are flying high having won five of their six matches, including the last three. Meanwhile, the Kings XI Punjab have the exact opposite record with just one win so far and as a result find themselves rooted to the foot of the league.

The Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai is the venue for this encounter and although with a capacity of just 20,000 it is one of the smaller grounds in the event, the atmosphere will be electric as it always is when Sachin is playing. This is the fifth game here this tournament and its clear that the pitch generally favours the batsman, a defendable first innings total would need to be in the region of 180.

Team News

Mumbai could field an unchanged team though the middle order collapse against Deccan in their last match was worrying and might lead to some strengthening in that area. Their big hitting big money signing Kieron Pollard has had a shocking tournament so far, averaging just 11.8 with the bat, it would not be surprising if the South African JP Duminy was brought in to replace him. Not only is he a classy batsman, but his off spin is more than handy in this format.

Punjab's woes have been increased as their captain Kumar Sangakkara has been banned for one match after his team were fined for a slow over rate for the third time this tournament. Either Mohammad Kaif or Adrian Barath should get a chance to replace him, though neither is in Sangakkara's sphere as a batsman. If there is one silver lining for Punjab it is the presence of the Aussie paceman Brett Lee, he took a little bit of punishment against Kolkata in his first game as he found his feet, but he should be in better rhythm for this game and will be a major threat to the Mumbai batsman.

Match Odds

Unsurprisingly, Mumbai are the strong favourites, available to back at [1.6], while Punjab are on offer at [2.56]. The key to success for Mumbai will be to put together a solid batting performance. Against Deccan in their last game they wobbled badly and had to rely on a ballistic knock from bowler Harbhajan Singh to boost their total to a competitive one. The Mumbai batsman must not slip into a comfort zone and expect Tendulkar to score all the runs.

Meanwhile the Mumbai bowling unit is the best in the tournament, pacemen Zaheer Khan and Lasith Malinga are not just major wicket taking threats but they are economical too, a rare double that stifles most opposition innings. Off spinner Harbhajan is the highest wicket taker for Mumbai with eight victims so far. With these three players spearheading an attack most opponents will struggle to handle them.

Punjab are in crisis and the loss of Sangakkara, who is their skipper, leading batsman and wicket keeper, is a bad blow. The harsh reality for the Kings XI though is that their batting hasn't been up to scratch this IPL, none of their three star batsman, Yuvraj Singh, Mahela Jawawardene and Sangakkara have scored 100 tournament runs yet, to put that in context Tendulkar has scored more than all three combined. If Punjab are to make any impact on the game they are likely to need Yuvraj, their Indian talisman, to find form and rack up a big score.

Top Batsman

Astonishingly Sachin has top scored for Mumbai in five of the six matches so far, so it's no surprise to see him heading the Top Mumbai Batsman market at a short price. Dwayne Bravo was boosted up to three in the order against Deccan and looked in good touch for his 23. Its hard to make a case for JP Duminy as we haven't seen him in action yet and he may well need to get an innings under his belt before he hits form.

With Sangakkara out, Yuvraj Singh and Ravi Bopara head the market to top score for Punjab. Bopara will likely look to play the anchor role and bat a long time, while Yuvraj will aim to dominate the bowlers. At a larger price the aggressive Manvinder Bisla is in as good form as anyone in the Punjab team and shouldn't be ruled out.

Featured Market

Mumbai have hit 27 sixes so far in IPL 3 while Punjab have scored 24, but Yuvraj, their most destructive six hitter, has yet to hit his stride. It may well make sense to take Punjab at odds against to hit more sixes than Mumbai in the Most Sixes market.

Trivia

The Little Master Sachin Tendulkar has scored four half centuries from his six innings so far, more than any other player in the tournament, though he has only hit one 'DLF Maximum' 6.

Best Bet: Back in form Dwayne Bravo to top score for Mumbai at [7.0] or more.

'.$sign_up['title'].'

'; } } ?>

:

:

:

?

: