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Form points to the Mumbai Indians

— PHOTO: AP

KEEPING IT NICE AND TIGHT: Batsmen have found the going tough against Mumbai Indians’ premier spinner Harbhajan Singh.

Durban: With its inspirational skipper Shane Warne ruled out owing to a hamstring injury, Rajasthan Royals will be a lesser force when it takes on the in-form Mumbai Indians in a crucial Indian Premier League match here on Thursday.

No face-off again

Warne’s hamstring injury means his much-anticipated face-off with Mumbai skipper Sachin Tendulkar, which was prevented by rain the last time around, will not happen again.

Both the teams are tied on 11 points after 11 games but Mumbai is ahead on net run-rate at the fourth spot and Thursday’s match might prove to be crucial in deciding the semifinal spots.

Rajasthan’s current form is not too encouraging and after the team lost to Chennai Super Kings and Deccan Chargers in its last two matches, Warne’s imposing presence would surely be missed by the defending champion.

Mumbai, on the other hand, seems to have recovered from a hat-trick of losses and has registered back-to-back wins over Royal Challengers Bangalore and Kings XI Punjab to put its campaign back on track.

Solid batting

The team’s batting looks solid with Tendulkar back in form and J.P. Duminy emerging as the middle order mainstay.

Among others, Dwayne Bravo has also been among the runs, while Ajinkya Rahane too has been impressive.

Sanath Jayasuriya’s form, however, remains a concern and Tendulkar would expect the Sri Lankan to wriggle out of the bad patch and play his natural, swashbuckling cricket.

Mumbai bowlers are not doing too badly and injured pace spearhead Zaheer Khan’s absence has not been felt much.

Lasith Malinga and Harbhajan Singh have combined to lead the attack well, although the fiery off-spinner has complained that he is not aware of his role in the team.

In comparison, Rajasthan’s batting is too reliant on Graeme Smith and Yusuf Pathan although Naman Ojha has turned out to be quite a surprise package. — PTI

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