Mumbai Indians will be under pressure
Mumbai: Black caps all-rounder James Franklin leads the Mumbai Indians batting averages after playing remarkable game-twisting roles in the last league fixture of the IPL-IV against Kolkata Knight Riders at the Eden Gardens.
Off and on, Franklin was named in the team sheet skipper Sachin Tendulkar carried with him to hand over to his counterpart at the toss in the lead-up to the play-off match, prompting wisecracks in the press box to comment on the utility of the Kiwi bought at a mere $100,000 on the second day of the auction in Bangalore almost four months ago.
Match-winner
Apart from practising hitting sixes at net-sessions at the Wankhede stadium, Franklin has hardly managed to catch the attention, on occasions as an opener and getting out cheaply, when operating with the ball and while fielding in the deep. But turning out in his sixth match, Franklin became MIs' match-winner against KKR, after exhibiting nimble work with ball that removed key KKR batsmen in Jacques Kallis and Yusuf Pathan and then hitting hefty shots that sent Laxmipathy Balaji to the far corners of the Eden four times before Ambati Rayudu clinched victory with a six.
Franklin's heavy-duty shots gave him and MI 45 runs in an aggregate of 62 in six matches and high average of 62.00. It's on the back of this magnificent show with the bat and ball (two for 35) that MI will take on KKR in the IPL-eliminator.
MI is disappointed at the fact that it did not sustain its form to be placed among the top two in the league; a string of defeats against Kings XI Punjab, Deccan Chargers and Rajasthan Royals saw it slip from the top of the table to fourth position before the cliff-hanger against KKR.
Rough ride
It has been a rough and tumble ride for MI after Lasith Malinga and its top order worked like a well-oiled machine in the opening matches against Delhi Daredevils at the Kotla and RCB at the Chinnaswamy stadium.
The erratic story thus far would bring it under pressure against the KKR. The Wankhede is not any more its home ground in a way; the stadium does not bear the flex-posters in blue, the shades of India's tri-colours have replaced it with the BCCI-IPL taking charge of the play-off matches.
The winner of this MI-KKR match would proceed to the qualifier 2 match in Chennai and it will play against the loser of the match between RCB and Chennai Super Kings.
For the first time in four seasons, KKR has entered the last four, a feat its owner Shah Rukh Khan would be happy about. Gautam Gambhir has every right to lavish praise on his colleagues, the way they lifted the game after going down to CSK in the opening match of the competition at Chepauk by two runs.
After the victory against Pune Warriors, Gambhir rejected a view that his team's performance has been very changeable. “I do not agree with that at all. We have played excellent cricket on different kinds of surfaces. We are a team that would be most difficult to beat,”' he said without any trace of apprehension and adding that events in an over or two can swing the fortunes of a team.
On Sunday he went out of the way to defend Balaji who sent down the final over of the match and was battered for 23 runs — the same Amit Mishra and Shikhar Dhawan scored against Munaf Patel in the MI- DC match. Balaji is the third highest wicket-taker for KKR after Iqbal Abdulla (16) and Yusuf Pathan (13).
After a three for 15 spell against Rajasthan Royals in which he sent down the dream leg-cutter to dismiss Shane Watson, the former Indian seamer has been in the news and for good reasons.
It's not often that he has been thumped so as to be the cause of defeat. Rightly Gambhir has defended one of his strike bowlers. “He is an experienced bowler, he is not a bad bowler because of one over. In this format such things can happen. It was one of those bad days for us. He gave away 23 runs in that over. Nine times out of ten he would have emerged as a winner,” said Gambhir.
Adequate strength
KKR has the bowling resources to subdue an unpredictable MI on a surface that has encouraged the seamers and spinners. It has adequate strength to post a formidable total too.
MI will have its supporters rooting for it, but Tendulkar's team will take the field with a stark reminder that it could not make 136 while chasing against the Chargers and post only 133 against Rajasthan Royals after which Watson cut loose and made the home team wilt.
It's been more often the case of MI not able to deal with pressure in the tournament and there's no denying that fact.
Reference from The Hindu
