Mumbai set for flying start

Hyderabad: It will be a fiercely contested battle when defending champions Mumbai Indians, led by Rohit Sharma lock horns with Gautam Gambhir’s Kolkata Knight Riders at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday.. Although, both teams look strong on paper, matches are not played on paper and it will boil down to the performances on a given day. The defending champions were outstanding in the last season winning 11 of their 16 group matches before continuing the run into the semifinal and finals. The joy was doubled with the Champions League T20 win, where they defeated the Rajasthan Royals in the final. What makes the campaign so important is that they come in with the same set of players.

Mumbai was the most conservative side in the auctions retaining almost all the big names. If you look at it, there isn’t much difference in the side apart from the addition of Michael Hussey- who will look to play Sachin Tendulkar’s role. With not many changes in the dressing room, Mumbai will hope to pick up from where they left last season. Rohit Sharma has proved himself as a captain. Despite a meagre show in the World T20, the Mumbai Indians will not be concerned about his form because he is a completely different player in the IPL. The spin department is firmly held by Harbhajan Singh and Pragyan Ojha- who was retained using the ‘right to match’ card. Lasith Malinga, who led a spirited Sri Lankan side to the T20 crown just a fortnight ago, will be high on confidence. And a confident Malinga is a threat to any side in the shortest format.

With all-rounders like Corey Anderson and Keiron Pollard backed by Ambati Rayudu- who has been Mumbai’s go-to player- the middle order looks raring to go. However, it will be interesting to see how Zaheer Khan copes up with the pressure. On the other hand, Kolkata have made many big changes in their side. Gautam Gambhir will have an uphill task of getting the lads to work together. Kolkata hugely relies on the experience of Jacques Kallis up the order, who has not had any professional cricket since his last Test against India in December last year. It will be interesting to see how a rusty Kallis manages to keep up with the pace of the game. Robin Uthappa, Manish Pandey and Vinay Kumar have all been in supreme touch for Karnataka in the Ranji season and will look to do the same on the big stage. Manwinder Bisla, who shot to fame with a match-winning knock in the IPL V final, will also be a key figure if the side has to win the match.

Yousuf Pathan is a match-winner, but he hasn’t played like one off late. He will look to break the shackles but it will not be easy considering the quality of the opposition. The bowling looks decent with Morne Morkel, Umesh Yadav and Piyush Chawla joining the ranks to back Sunil Naraine, who has had a pretty quiet international season. Kolkata had a very bad season last year and they will look to put it behind them. But if statistics are anything to go by, Vintage Mumbai are clear favourites over the young turks from Kolkata.

Squads (from): Mumbai Indians: Rohit Sharma (c), Aaditya Tare (wk), Michael Hussey, Sushant Marathe, Ambati Rayudu, Kieron Pollard, Corey Anderson, Ben Dunk, Josh Hazlewood, Harbhajan Singh, Pragyan Ojha, Shreyas Gopal, Jalaj Saxena, CM Gautam, Krishmar Santokie, Marchant de Lange, Jasprit Bumrah, A Wankhede, Pawan Suyal.

Kolkata Knight Riders: Gautam Gambhir (c), Jacques Kallis, Robin Uthappa, Manish Pandey, Shakib Al Hasan, Manvinder Bisla (wk), Ryan ten Doeschate, Yusuf Pathan, Suryakumar Yadav, Sunil Narine, Chris Lynn, Kuldeep Yadav, Pat Cummins, Debabrata Das, Piyush Chawla, Morne Morkel, Umesh Yadav, Sayan Mondal, R Vinay Kumar, Andre Russell, Veer Pratap Singh.