It's all pretty well set up, says Mumbai Indians' head coach Shaun Pollock of today's clash against Deccan Chargers
It's all pretty well set up, says Mumbai Indians' head coach Shaun Pollock of today's clash against Deccan Chargers
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The two teams who look the part of champions in the 2009 edition of the DLF Indian Premier League will face each other at Sahara Stadium Kingsmead today in what could be the best match of the series so far.
It's a match-up everyone has been waiting for since the competition began at Sahara Park Newlands last weekend. The Mumbai Indians, who clinically demolished runners-up Chennai Super Kings in their opening game in Cape Town last week, take on a re-energised Deccan Chargers.
The Chargers have come through to this stage with wins against the Kolkata Knight Riders and Bangalore Royal Challengers.
They are a point ahead of the Mumbai Indians, who had their second game against the defending champions, Rajasthan Royals washed out early in the week.
Bouncy wicket
With the Durban pitch offering bounce, pace swing and seam, the Mumbai Indians could not have a better pair of hands in the form of Shaun Pollock, the former South African all-rounder, to help them prepare for this big clash.
Pollock grew up playing at Kingsmead. He knows every one of the eight tracks on the wicket table at the back of his hand. He has played some memorable matches here match-winning innings and bowling for both South Africa and the Nashua Dolphins.
Now he looks for bigger things especially for the Mumbai outfit.
But Pollock is not the only one helping the Mumbai Indians cause. There's Jonty Rhodes, considered the best fielder of his time and an outstanding batsman in all forms of the game.u00a0u00a0
The ingredients are there for a cracking game. The stars on each side are in-form and the sell-out Kingsmead crowd could be in for treat.
"It's all set up pretty well for us," said head coach, Shaun Pollock.
"I believe we Jonty included have done a wonderful job with the players ever since they started assembling here for the event. The fact that we've had so many days together at a camp and have played a few practice matches on the main field, gives us that extra-confidence going into this game.
"Our success in the tournament lies in the way we have prepared. We have the players some are the best in the world. The time has arrived for us to execute our game plans and move ahead in the competition."
One man in particular, who will enjoy the Kingsmead pitch, is left-arm swing bowler, Zaheer Khan. If he can exploit the pitch and get as much out of it as he puts into it, he will cause some consternation to the Deccan Chargers batsmen.
Khan will not be alone as he has the Sri Lankan quick Lasith Malinga, who will have his first taste of big-time cricket here.
Sanath's home ground
Added to this duo, the Mumbai Indians also have in their squad a player of immense quality Sanath Jayasuriya. This was his home ground during the South African summer he played for the Nashua Dolphins. Though he did not make too many runs here, he did take some vital wickets with his left-arm spin.
If Jayasuriya and the "Turbanator" Harbhajan Singh operate in tandem and if they are able to drop a perfect line, they could cause mayhem in the Chargers batting which relies heavily on Adam Gilchrist, Herschelle Gibbs and Rohit Sharma.
However the man who turned 36 yesterday holds all the aces. Sachin Tendulkar enjoyed a quite birthday with his team yesterday and is looking forward to adding more runs to his already full bag of runs in Test and one-day internationals.
"It's good to be here again. It's good to be playing in Durban a place I love coming to. Hopefully, I can make a few runs to help us win here today," he said, after a full-scale net session.
Saturday: Mumbai indians vs deccan chargers, Live on Max, 16:00
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