Preview: Mumbai Indians v Highveld Lions (CLT20 2010 - Game 1)

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What


The first game of CLT20 2010 sees the local Highveld Lions take on IPL runners-up Mumbai Indians.

When

Friday, September 10, 2010. The game begins at 5.30 pm, SAST.

Where

Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg.

About the teams


Mumbai Indians come to CLT20 2010 as one of the pre tournament favourites. With the ageless Sachin Tendulkar in their ranks and a host of big names in their squad – Kieron Pollard, Dwayne Bravo, JP Duminy, Zaheer Khan, Harbhajan Singh and Lasith Malinga –MI have the necessary firepower to tame the Lions in their den.

The Lions on the other hand enter the match with the home advantage. The fact that the MI batsmen are not familiar with their bowling attack gives the Lions the opportunity to take Mumbai by surprise. And having proved their skill in the 2009/10 Pro20 series, Robert Frylinck and Ethan O’Reilly might just prove to be a handful for the Mumbai batsmen.

Key players

Lasith Malinga, with his slinger-like action, is ideally suited to exploit the pace and bounce of South African conditions. Malinga did exceedingly well in the recently concluded home Test series for Sri Lanka against India and would be looking to carry his good form into MI’s opening match at CLT20 2010.
With a relatively inexperienced batting line-up that is also bereft of big names, Neil McKenzie would be expected to shoulder the bulk of the batting responsibility for the Lions. And with a record Test-opening partnership of 415 with Graeme Smith against his name, Lions fans are hoping that Smith can pull off some of the same magic against MI in the opening game

What Next        

Both teams would like to begin the tournament on the right note and so a loss would be a bit of a disappointment for either team. However, there is always a chance of turning things around in the future group games. Having said that, expect MI to come out all guns blazing and anything less than a roaring performance by the Highveld Lions would leave the home fans disappointed.