Yuvraj versus 'special person' Sachin at Wankhede (Preview)

Yuvraj Singh’s special person for whom he was putting good performances one after another in the world cup turned out to be none other than his Indian team-mate Sachin Tendulkar and dedicated his man of the tournament award to the batting legend as well. The beauty of IPL comes into fore as Yuvraj leading Pune will be pitted against his guru Sachin at former’s home ground.

Mumbai and Pune have followed a same pattern this season so far. The start to this season for both the sides was very impressive with two wins in as many games and it seemed their IPL campaign was well on the course. For both the Maharashtra based franchises a good start came to a halt in a same fashion. They tasted defeat in respective third game thanks to some terrific memorable chases from their opponents.

Sachin Tendulkar’s maiden t-20 ton went in vain as Kochi chased down a big target in some style to put brakes on Mumbai ‘s winning momentum and Delhi did the same with Pune in a thrilling match at DY Patel stadium. Now both will be sweating it against each other to get back to the winning ways.

There will be no prizes for guessing right who Wankhede crowd would be cheering for, none other than Mumbai led by their own and master blaster Sachin.

Batting in either side is in a good health as runs have come from the batters without much problem. So much so Mumbai haven’t lost more than two wickets in any of the games they featured this season as batting duties have been primarily shared between Sachin and young batting star. For Pune, contributions have come from various sources with Yuvraj, Jesse Ryder and Monish Mishra looking in good touch.

Weak links in the bowling lineup were exposed with backup bowlers leaking too many runs and off-spinner Harbhajan Singh struggling to get wickets in the middle overs.

Pune, it appears, lacks a quality bowler who can bowl in the end and that was evident when Pune leaked too many runs in the later stages of Delhi chase leading to their first loss. While Mumbai need to do away with their too much on Lasith Malinga in bowling, Pune need to address the problem of lack of wickets in the middle order to get back to winning ways.

With too much power and class in the batting and depth and variety in the bowling Mumbai will enter the match as the favorites.

MUMBAI

Players who can make impact…

Ambati Rayudu…Among the young crop of local batsmen, Ambati Rayudu is staking his claim to be part of Indian after every IPL outing. He has been bundles of confidence and runs this season under the tutelage of Sachin Tendulkar. His ability to hit straight and come up with cover drives and cut shots with all the ease in the world has caught attention of one and all.

Harbhajan Singh…Indian off-spinner is yet to make his mark this season struggling to get wickets in the middle overs. His knack of rising to the occasion can’t be overruled though as he adds value to the Mumbai side. He is hard to get away and complements Malinga well in the death 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

PUNE

Players who can make impact…

Yuvraj Singh…In form of his life, Yuvraj has already made an impact with both the bat and ball. He seems to be enjoying captaincy role and is keen to lead from the front. With Pune short on spin bowling resources, Yuvraj as a bowler becomes very important to the team.

Jesse Ryder…He has been the Pune’s best batsman so far scoring consistently and that too at a rapid rate. Someone known for ill-temper, Ryder is keen to make a mark in the IPL and tell the world what is capable of. His ability to hit the long ball with all the ease makes him a dangerous proposition.

SQUAD

Yuvraj Singh (c) A Jhunjhunwala, Alfonso Thomas, Angelo Mathews, Ashish Nehra, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Callum Ferguson, Dheeraj Jadhav, Eklavya Dwivedi, Ganesh Gaikwad, Graeme Smith, Harpreet Singh, Harshad Khadiwale, Imtiyaz Ahmed, Jerome Taylor, Jesse Ryder, Kamran Khan, Manish Pandey, Mitchell Marsh, Mithun Manhas, Monish Mishra, Murali Kartik, Nathan McCullum, Rahul Sharma, Robin Uthappa, Sachin Rana, Shrikant Mundhe, Shrikant Wagh, Tim Paine (wk), Wayne Parnell