Week 7 - Match 3 - Mumbai Indians vs Kings XI Punjab

Welcome to the Wankhede Stadium, home of the Mumbai Indians.

Pitch Conditions: A dry pitch with some cracks in it that will offer some uneven bounce to the fast bowlers and some spin to the slower bowlers. Batsmen who have been bought up on dry sub-continent pitches will enjoy the challenge of this pitch.

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Please post tactics below...

Not a bad pitch for me, I usually have four subcontinent guys in my top 6, but also looks a decent pitch for Mumbai. Will the pitch deteriorate much Gregers? Thinking it may be best to bat second here as Mumbai strike me as a good chasing side...

I'd imagine it might deteriorate a bit but not too much.

Should be a very close game between us

Provisional Mumbai Indians side:

1) Tendulkar (c)
2) Ryder/Dhawan/Prior
3) Dilshan
4) Rohit
5) Manoj
6) Pollard/VDM
7) Shah/VDM/Yardy
8) Harby
9) Gul
10) Malinga
11) Gony/Munaf

probably Kings XI side

Gambhir
Kieswetter (wk)
KP
Umar Akmal
Ganguly
Chitnis
RTD
Bresnan
Bipul Sharma
Karthik
Rahul Sharma

going for strength in depth in the batting for this one, given it looks like a tricky pitch. Will look to target Gony/Munaf and the fifth bowler probably.

thought u might have gone in with a 2nd spinner gregers?

VDM is more than capable as a second spinner, might yet change the line up tho. Maybe Panesar over Gony/Munaf

ah yes sorry didnt see VDM, but i suppose vdm could bat lower down so pollard could get in as well...

but your choice mate

Its a dilemma thats for sure

lol not suprised that yardy hasnt made it in your side again :p

I cant fit him in, on a spinners paradise maybe tho.

he dosent spin it lol, so he would be useless, your better off not pickinh him IMO

True, the problem is that VDM does Yardy's job but better

well then you dont have a problem lol, just stick with VDM over yardy...

i do really like the look of this mumbai side, IMO prior has to play..

will be intresting to see the tactics.

If prior plays then one of VDM or Pollard has to miss out...

Malinga could be the difference lol

Should be a tight game this, two good sides.

yup, the uneven cracks in the pitch, and malinga's pace could be very tricky to face on here.

more worried about Gul. Taller, hit the pitch type bowlers are the danger here IMO

I like the fact Kartik and Rahul sharma are both playing.

Actually quite struggling to pick a side, 5 overseas:

Gul, Malinga and Dilshan are obvious. But the other two less so!

i struggled to pick mine, but made the balance of my side better by picking miller at the expense of borthwick

My five overseas almost pick themselves since I got Bresnan TBH: Kieswetter, KP, Akmal, RTD and Bresnan. Couple of decent enough back-ups but no one in the class of those five.

Well mine normally do with Pollard and VDM being the other two... although considering playing Prior...

Rohit sharma at 4 is good. Very good player who can accelerate at any time

lol have u decided about whether to put in Matt Prior or not?

i think u should, although tendulkar and prior opening would be cool.

Mumbai Indians

1) Sachin Tendulkar (c)
2) Shikhar Dhawan - U25
3) Tillakaratne Dilshan (wk) - O
4) Rohit Sharma - U25
5) Manoj Tiwary - U25
6) Kieron Pollard - U25 O
7) Roloef Van der Merwe - O
8) Harbhajan Singh
9) Umar Gul - O
10) Lasith Malinga - O
11) Munaf Patel

Toss - Bowl first

Bowling: We will look to restrict the Kings XI to a modest total and believe we have the bowling unit to do so. Harby will open the bowling and try and get Kieswetter early on. Malinga will bowl from the other end and look for the uneaven bounce. Munaf will then take over from Harby and look for uneaven bounce as well as any swing that is present. Malinga will bowl two before Gul comes on and bowls the last of the powerplay overs from that end. As soon as the powerplay comes to an end we will turn to spin with VDM and Harby bowling in tandem. VDM will probably be up against KP who has a massive weakness to slow left arm bowling so should clean him up. Harby will bowl his remaining three overs straight out whereas VDM will bowl two before being replaced by Pollard or Rohit depending on the conditions. VDM will then switch ends to finish his allotted overs. The best death bowling partnership in the competition in Gul and Malinga will then bowl the final 5 overs. On this pitch they may well be nigh on unplayable.


Overs:

Harbhajan - 4 overs (1,6,8,10)
Malinga - 4 overs (2,4,18,20)
Munaf - 2 overs (3,5)
Gul 4 overs (6,15,17,19)
VDM - 4 overs (7,9,12,14)
Pollard/Rohit - 2 overs (11,13)


Batting: Tendulkar to play as he always does with Dhawan looking to hit out. Dilshan at 3 is able to play either the anchor role or carry on accelerating the innings. Rohit and Manoj at 4 and 5 are incredibly talented and would relish the challenge of this pitch having been bought up on pitches like this one. Pollard and VDM will look to finish the match in style. The tail is more than capable with Harby, Gul and Malinga all able to swing a bat if needed. We believe we can chase down anything.

Kings XI Punjab.

Team
Gambhir
Kieswetter (wk)
Pietersen
Umar Akmal
Ganguly
Chitnis
Ten Doeschate
Bipul Sharma
Bresnan
Rahul Sharma
Karthik

selection - Nehra isn't suited so much to this pitch (being a skiddy rather than hit the pitch bowler), so he's replaced by the excellent Murali Karthik. On a tricky pitch, we've gone with plenty of batting (Bresnan at 9).

Toss - bat first. Thought long about this, but ultimately on tough pitches I prefer to get runs on the board, and Tendulkar aside Mumbai aren't packed with great chasers.

Batting tactics: Gambhir will anchor the innings, with Kieswetter and KP hitting around him. We'll look to target Munaf in the PP, whose bowling is perhaps not the best suited to this pitch. Four of the top 6 were brought up on the subcontinent, while Kieswetter and KP have plenty of experience in these conditions too, and both are good players of spin. The acceleration should come from the lower middle-order of Chitnis, RTD and the two all-rounders Bipul Sharma and Bresnan. THe depth of the batting is excellent, with a genuine all-rounder at n°9.

Bowling tactics: Bresnan and Murali Karthik to share the new ball, with Bresnan's height and pace extracting the low bounce from the wearing pitch. RTD will then come on, looking to bowl wicket to wickets and take advantage of the conditions. He'll be backed up by Bipul Sharma and Rahul Sharma through the middle, with Sharma and Bresnan finishing it off at the death.

Overs:
Bresnan (1,3,18,20)
Karthik (2,4,6,16)
RTD ( 5,7,13,15)
Rahul Sharma (9,11,17,19)
Bipul Sharma (8,10,12,14)

Malinga will need all his variations.