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Tendulkar’s men in upbeat mood

V.V. Subrahmanyam

HYDERABAD: It has been a journey of contrasts. When Deccan Chargers met Mumbai Indians in its first encounter on April 27, both teams were winless from three matches.

Since then, while Mumbai Indians has moved into the top four with five consecutive wins, Chargers has occupied one of the two bottom slots in the IPL table.

Ironically however, Chargers opened its account in that game against Indians, scoring a 10-wicket win thanks to Adam Gilchrist’s flamboyant century.

When the two teams meet again on Sunday at the Rajiv Gandhi Stadium here, the host will have little at stake while the Sachin Tendulkar-led Mumbai outfit will be keen to continue its winning streak and inch its way to the top of the ladder.

Main worry

Definitely it is not the situation which Adam Gilchrist, the captain of Deccan Chargers would be happy with.

And more importantly, his main worry could be the awesome form of Sri Lankan Sanath Jayasuriya, who recently recorded a blazing century against Chennai Super Kings. The manner in which he scored the runs should be a concern for all the teams lined up to take on Mumbai.

“Lack of consistency is one of the problem areas,” admits Gilchrist. The two wins so far were primarily because of Gilchrist’s batting. The dismal run of Herschelle Gibbs, Scott Styris and Shahid Afridi has only compounded the woes of the much-hyped home team.

Even Y. Venugopala Rao, who was a revelation with his strokeplay in the last two games, and the consistent Rohit Sharma, never really managed to win matches for Chargers.

Coupled with this has been the poor bowling with fast bowler Rudra Pratap Singh being particularly expensive. Till now, Chargers has failed to throw up a bowling hero.

On the other hand, Sachin Tendulkar, playing his third IPL match, is probably hoping for a great performance from the bowling attack which includes Shaun Pollock and Ashish Nehra.

If this happens, then the likes of Sanath Jayasuriya, Tendulkar and Robin Uthappa will have an easier job on hand.

The teams:

Deccan Chargers: Adam Gilchrist (capt.), Herschelle Gibbs, Scott Styris, Rohit Sharma, Shahid Afridi, Sanjay Bangar, R.P. Singh, N. Arjun Yadav, D. Kalyankrishna, Pragyan Ojha, Chamara Silva, Chaminda Vaas, Nuwan Zoysa, D.B. Ravi Teja, Sarvesh Kumar, Y. Venugopala Rao and P. Vijay Kumar.

Mumbai Indians: Sachin Tendulkar (capt.), Sanath Jayasuriya, Robin Uthappa, Dominic Thornely, Abhishek Nayar, Shaun Pollock, Dwayne Bravo, Dhaval Kulkarni, Rohan Raje, Yogesh Takawale, Ashish Nehra, Saurabh Tiwary, Ajinkya Rahane and Mussavir Khote.

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