Warne's farewell at Sachin's home (Preview)

This has to be a classico for sure. Shane Warne in his last appearance as a professional cricketer is taking on his nemesis for nearly two decades, Sachin Tendulkar. The Warne-Sachin duel would be on display one last time at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai as Rajasthan take on Mumbai in a crucial match of IPL-4.

However, there is more to it than just the legendary rivalry, Mumbai are in a real danger of losing out on a play-off spot after having been on top of the standings for major part of the season. They seem to have lost the plot, two successive batting failures against relatively weaker teams has put them in a spot of bother. Punjab’s resurgence has spiced up the race for the two vacant slots in the top-four; with the consistent Kolkata the third challenger.

Having said that, Mumbai are superior to a young Rajasthan side in man to man comparison. They have the quality to end Warne’s illustrious career on a sour note. The home bowling attack has some fearsome names, ‘slinger’ Lasith Malinga, accurate Munaf Patel and wily offie Harbhajan Singh. They also have one of the best fielding units, presence of ‘live wires’ like Kieron Pollard and Andrew Symonds have backed their bowling well. Of late, Batting has been an area of concern. Although, the batting is full of heavyweights like Sachin, Rohit Sharma but it has wilted under pressure more than once.

That is where Warne’s Rajasthan have a hope to do an upset of sorts and end their disappointing IPL-4 campaign on a high. For that to happen, Warne would have to weave his magic and marshal his short on resources and inexperienced side with aplomb. The constant chopping and changing hasn’t helped the side with six changes in their last match nearly ending in a farce.

However, there would be some motivation for the young Rajasthan players; after all, their talisman is playing his farewell match. They may have nothing at stake as far as the title race is concerned but there would be pride to play for.

On the contrary, Mumbai have the pressure to secure 2 points in this match as their next match is against Kolkata.

MUMBAI

Players who can make impact…

Sachin Tendulkar…The ‘little master’ started his batting in IPL-4 with a bang but in the last few matches big runs haven’t come. As a result, he lost the Orange Cap, currently he is seventh on the run scoring chart but it is just a matter of one good innings.

Andrew Symonds….He is a destructive batsman in any format of the game. Although, he bats low down for Mumbai, his clean hitting can change the course of match in a span of few overs.

SQUAD

Abu Nechim , Aditya Tare (wk), Aiden Blizzard, Ali Murtaza, Ambati Rayudu, Andrew Symonds, Davy Jacobs, Dhawal Kulkarni, Harbhajan Singh, James Franklin, Kieron Pollard, Lasith Malinga, Moises Henriques, Munaf Patel, Pawan Suyal, Rajagopal Sathish, Rohit Sharma, Sachin Tendulkar (c), Santosh Yadav, Sarul Kanwar, Tirumalsetti Suman, Yuzvendra Chahal

RAJASTHAN

Players who can make impact…

Shane Warne…The man credited with the “ball of the century” would bowl the last delivery of his professional career and what a place to bring down curtains on an illustrious career that has spanned two decades. The last defining image of Warne may well be the prized wicket of Sachin Tendulkar in the latter’s backyard.

Shane Watson….The burly all-rounder hasn’t reproduced his form in IPL-4 and although, his bowling has been all right, the batting hasn’t come good on a consistent basis. With the fragile Rajasthan batting depending on him, the Aussie would have to produce a good innings to prevent his team from another loss.

SQUAD

Aakash Chopra, Abhishek Raut, Aditya Dole, Ajinkya Rahane, Amit Paunikar, Amit Singh, Ankeet Chavan, Ashok Menaria, Deepak Chahar, Dinesh Salunkhe, Dishant Yagnik, Faiz Fazal, Johan Botha, Nayan Doshi, Pankaj Singh, Pinal Shah, Rahul Dravid, Ross Taylor, Samad Fallah, Shane Warne (c), Shane Watson, Shaun Tait, Siddharth Trivedi, Stuart Binny, Sumit Narwal, Swapnil Asnodkar.