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| Rohit sharma captain of Mumbai Indians and Rahul Dravid captain of Rajasthan Royals during the toss |
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The four-wicket win against Hyderabad was Rajasthan’s first victory in three attempts since the spot-fixing revelations emerged. It’s a win that has energised the team hugely; they will start overwhelming underdogs against a formidable, power-packed Mumbai outfit, only a brave man will totally write them off.
While there already have been, and will continue to be, many fallouts of the spot-fixing expose, there has also been one immediate cricketing fallout which was obvious at the Kotla on Wednesday (May 22).
The team balance has gone for a toss with the non-availability of Chandila and Chavan, their two frontline Indian spinners. With Praveen Tambe, the 41-year-old leg-spinner, also out
injured, Rajasthan had to cobble together an all-pace attack on a pitch that called for at least one specialist spinner.
They got away against Hyderabad, but against a more rounded team like Mumbai, they could be caught short if the conditions at the Eden continue to remain what they have been all tournament long.
Rajasthan might be a “moneyball” team, as Dravid put it, but they aren’t as unlikely a success story as is being made out. In Shane Watson, they possess one of the premier allrounders in world cricket while no man has scored more Twenty20 runs in the world than Brad Hodge, the hero in their triumph over Hyderabad.
Ajinkya Rahane is a proven Twenty20 performer, Stuart Binny is a proven force in Indian domestic cricket, Dravid – on the wrong side of 40 – has consistently addressed the demands of the three-hour game, while James Faulkner’s possession of the Purple Cap is no accident. It’s just that when you compare these names against those in the opposition – Mumbai in this instance – it feels as if Rajasthan are relative lightweights.
Dwayne Smith, Rohit Sharma, Dinesh Karthik, Kieron Pollard, Harbhajan Singh, Mitchell Johnson and Lasith Malinga – they make for an array of riches any team would love to possess.
This is a team that can’t find a place for Glenn Maxwell, the million-dollar man. This is a team that has consistently left out Ricky Ponting, its captain for the season, because it cant squeeze him in, given the four-foreigner rule.
And this is a team that has made light of the absence of Sachin Tendulkar, clearly batting from memory but striking meaningful form towards the end of the league phase before an unfortunate wrist injury surfaced.
Tendulkar has missed the last three matches and is a doubtful starter on Friday (May 24), but even so, Mumbai have most bases covered.
For a team that has always had a glittering array of stars, Mumbai have been supreme underachievers in IPL cricket, having made the final just once in five previous tilts. They will quietly fancy their chances this time around, but will also be mindful of the minefield that stares them in the face in the form of a Rajasthan side with nothing to lose.
