One of the three sides that have 100% winning records at the end of the first weekend of action in the 2015 Pepsi Indian Premier League (IPL), the Rajasthan Royals, play host at the Sardar Patel Stadium, Ahmedabad on Tuesday, to one of the three teams that has a 100% losing record at the same stage, the Mumbai Indians.
The Royals who won the inaugural IPL tournament, but have made just a solitary semi-final appearance since, claimed a second victory of the current campaign at the weekend when they beat the Delhi Daredevils.
Rajasthan were buoyed by the performance of spinners Pravin Tambe and Deepak Hooda, the youngest player in this season’s IPL, who between them delivered seven overs for a cost of just 38 runs, after Delhi had made a flying start, and threatened to make a score that would be beyond the reach of the Royals batting line up.
However, if they want to make a serious challenge for the silverware come the end of the season, the Royals will need to improve their fielding, which was at best average against Delhi, where missed chances left them having to chase a 180+ target, when they should have been chasing many fewer.
Mumbai would have been satisfied with the performance of their bowlers, in the first home game of the season at the Wankhede, keeping the star studded Kings XI batting order to under 180, with Lasith Malinga and Harbhajan Singh being the pick of the bunch. Proving once more that there is no replacement for experience.
However, Mumbai’s batsmen were never able to come to terms with the visitors quick bowlers, led by Australian World Cup winner, Mitchell Johnson, who finished with 2 for 23. But for a stunning piece of hitting late on by Harbhajan who smashed an astonishing 64 off of just 24 balls the final margin of defeat would have been far more than the eventual 18 runs.