Newcomers Rising Pune face holders Mumbai Indians

By our correspondents
April 09, 2016

Advertisement

MUMBAI: The ninth season of Indian Premier League begins on Saturday (today) with the defending champions Mumbai Indians facing newcomers Rising Pune Supergiants.

MS Dhoni has been put front and centre, and so has the best batting track in the country. Amid all the critique that the tournament endures, those at the helm certainly know how to market themselves.

Mumbai are the only team that has a favourable win-loss record against the now suspended Chennai Super Kings, and a lot of key figures — from the head coach Stephen Fleming, to lead spinner R Ashwin — have broken away to form the Supergiants.

The world’s best will be in action again, a mere six days after a World T20 where new heroes emerged, low-scoring matches were still competitive and, despite the host nation being knocked out, the final was played at Eden Gardens in front of a capacity crowd.

Mumbai Indians

Mumbai made only seven purchases at the auction, and Jos Buttler was their most expensive buy. His price soared to 3.8 crore Indian Rupees, despite his limited experience in India, purely because of his ability as a 360-degree player.

Now he has had the experience of playing in these conditions — for a world championship no less — and his presence in the middle order may just free up Rohit Sharma to play in his preferred opening slot.

The English presence this IPL season is reasonably strong. Even at the age of 35 and only franchise cricket to sustain himself Kevin Pietersen was among the best batsmen in the Big Bash League 2015-16. Only two men scored more than his 323 runs and none matched his four fifties in nine matches.

Lasith Malinga’s injury might mean Mitchell McClenaghan would be tasked with leading the attack, especially considering that Tim Southee has not played international cricket in over a month.

The other decision Mumbai may need to make is decide between Kieron Pollard, who has just recovered from injury, and Corey Anderson, who has been out of form. Harbhajan Singh will likely be their lead spinner. Any one of J Suchith, Krunal Pandya and Kishore Kamath may partner him.

Supergiants might be relying on their overseas roster for batting strength and their Indian recruits to shore up the bowling. They appear rather light on spinners and might have to rope in rookie M Ashwin to partner his namesake.

The Supergiants, owned by RPSG Group, has been granted an opportunity to carve out a niche— guided by the previously successful combination of captain Dhoni and coach Fleming for CSK. Supergiants will need to pull out all stops to stop the home side. The hosts, who turned around a disastrous start last year after losing the opening four games, have the right personnel on paper to diffuse the challenge from RPS. Lendl Simmons, who orchestrated the bounce-back of MI last season, has shown his penchant for the Wankhede track with a blistering knock for eventual champions West Indies that knocked pre-tournament favourites India out of the World T20 at the semi-final stage on March 31.

Simmons and Sharma, who has decided to open the innings, are expected to pair up at the top with Ambati Rayudu, Buttler, Corey Anderson, Pollard and Pandya to follow up. The vastly improved Jasprit Bumrah will need to step up and give adequate support to Anderson, Tim Southee, McClenaghan and Marchant de Lange.

In spin, MI will bank immensely on their experienced off spinner Harbhajan Singh. The feisty sardar, ignored by the Indian think-tank right through the WT20 campaign although he was part of the 15-strong squad, would be eager to show his mettle against Dhoni and company.

Supergiants appear to have a strong batting line-up with the likes of Rahane, Pietersen, Steve Smith, Mitchell Marsh and Francois du Plessis, along with Dhoni.

They have good all-rounders in Albie Morkel and Irfan Pathan and a good mix of pace and spin in the bowling attack which is expected to be led by Ishant Sharma and Ravichandran Ashwin, respectively. The mini-battle between off-spin rivals Ashwin and Harbhajan should also liven up the contest.

Australian leggie Adam Zampa is also there to be called upon along with Ashwin’s Tamil Nadu teammate Murugan Ashwin, who is also a wrist spinner, and left arm slow bowler Ankit Sharma of Madhya Pradesh. The key for the Supergiants will be about how fast and how well they can jell as a team.

Advertisement