Preview: Deccan Chargers v Mumbai Indians
The Indian Premier League action will enter its second week tomorrow with a match between IPL 2 winners Deccan Chargers and Champions League T20 champions Mumbai Indians.
The two teams will go head-to-head after facing defeat in their previous games respectively. The Chargers lost their first game of the season against defending champions Chennai Super Kings on Saturday, while Mumbai were defeated by Pune Warriors thanks to skipper Sourav Ganguly’s good tactics.
Mumbai Indians have had a change in leadership this season as Harbhajan Singh is leading the side owned by Reliance’s Mukesh Ambani after Sachin Tendulkar decided to step down from the responsibility. Harbhajan did well in the opening game against CSK but failed completely in front of Ganguly’s tactical thinking against Pune.
The Indians have performed in a decent manner in the two matches played so far but lacked the killer instinct from their bowling department. If they are to get back to winning ways by handing a second consecutive defeat to the Chargers, a lot of things will rely on the bowling performance of Lasith Malinga. Sachin Tendulkar did not play against Pune due to injury and still remains doubtful for the next few games.
On the other side, Deccan Chargers have played just one game so far which ended in a 74-run defeat to CSK. The Chargers have a good bowling attack including South African paceman Dale Steyn and Australian all-rounder Daniel Christian. It’s only a matter of time before the squad gels together and starts clicking.
The problem with the Deccan side is the absence of consistency in their batting. Their top and middle order contributed well in the run chase against CSK, but there was no batsman left for them to fight till the end. Indian batsmen Shikhar Dhawan and Parthiv Patel will have to take advantage of familiar conditions and deliver for their team if they are to avoid a bad start to the their IPL 5 campaign.
Mumbai Indians start as favourites.