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Preview: Mumbai will surely start the game as favourites
by Asher Wilson


Scorecard:Mumbai Indians v Yorkshire
Event:Champions League 2012/13

DateLine: 18th October 2012

 

Mumbai Indians vs Yorkshire
Match Preview
Champions League T20 2012

 

Mumbai Indians will take on Yorkshire tonight in a Group B fixture of the Champions League T20 2012 at the Newlands, Cape Town, with both the teams looking to get off the mark in the illustrious competition. The massive eight-wicket loss in their tournament opener has not been an ideal start for defending champions Mumbai Indians and they would look to make amends in today's game. With both teams suffering defeats in their opening Group B matches, today's tie is a must-win game for both the sides to keep their semi-final chances alive.

 

The Mumbai Indians' batting lineup is more experienced compared to Yorkshire's as it runs pretty deep. Dwayne Smith and Sachin Tendulkar would look to capitalize on a good start and pick up momentum as the innings progresses. The likes of Kieron Pollard and Dinesh Karthik should be sent in early so that they get more time to settle and play their shots. A few alterations may be needed in the batting order depending on the situation and the way things turn out. Hence, MI will have to be a bit flexible.

 

Compared to Johannesburg, this venue will provide more assistance to Mumbai's bowling unit, which is arguably their stronger half at the moment. The conditions at Newlands will be more helpful for Mumbai's pacers. Lasith Malinga, Mitchell Johnson and Dhaval Kulkarni, will be able to get some amount of swing. The spinners will also get a decent amount of turn. Mumbai will look to play both their spinners considering the fact that the Englishmen will find it harder to face spin over seam.

 

Yorkshire, on the other side of the coin, have massive problems to solve before taking on the defending champions. They would be extremely low on confidence after their thrashing at the hands of Sydney Sixers earlier this week. Yorkshire are the underdogs in this competition and this will be a good opportunity for them to show everyone what they are capable of doing. They also have the advantage of having already played one game at Newlands. Their batting lineup is fairly inexperienced but has a lot of potential. At least one of the openers, Andrew Gale and Phil Jaques, should look to stick on for about ten overs so that they can give the middle order something to build on. Joe Root, Adam Lyth and Gary Ballance take some time to settle down but are capable of accelerating once they get their eye in. However, the batsmen would be wary of Malinga as most of them have not faced him before.

 

Having managed just 96 runs in their allotted 20 overs for the loss of nine wickets, Yorkshire failed to make an impression with the ball as well, allowing the Sixers to chase down the total in just the ninth over of the innings, with Brad Haddin and Michael Lumb smashing their bowling attack to all parts of the ground. However, MI's top order is not as destructive as Sydney's, hence the bowlers should get some time to find their rhythm. Ryan Sidebottom can get the ball to swing. Adil Rashid and Azeem Rafiq are a good spin combination for the middle overs. In order to have any chance of keeping their hopes alive in the tournament, Yorkshire will have to raise their game big time as the likes of Mumbai, Chennai Super Kings and Lions can smell blood.

 

Mumbai will surely start the game as favourites, being a much more experienced team as compared to Yorkshire.

 

Teams:

 

Mumbai Indians: Harbhajan Singh, MG Johnson, KD Karthik, DS Kulkarni, RE Levi, SL Malinga, PP Ojha, MM Patel, NLTC Perera, KA Pollard, AT Rayudu, RG Sharma, DR Smith, SR Tendulkar, SA Yadav

 

Yorkshire: AW Gale, MA Ashraf, Azeem Rafiq, GS Ballance, OJ Hannon-Dalby, DM Hodgson†, PA Jaques, A Lyth, DA Miller, SA Patterson, AU Rashid, JE Root, RJ Sidebottom, I Wardlaw, E Wilson

(Article: The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author only.
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