Its advantage Mumbai Indians on paper
Decimated by injuries but spirited nonetheless, Mumbai Indians will bank on their familiarity with the conditions to fight through another tough challenge when they take on England's Somerset in the semifinal of the Champions League Twenty20 at the M A Chidambaram stadium, in Chennai on Saturday.
Despite being an injury-ravaged side, the chances of Mumbai Indians -- without eight key players such as skipper Sachin Tendulkar, pacers Zaheer Khan, Munaf Patel and batsman Rohit Sharma -- are brighter than Somerset who reached the Champions League group stage through qualification.
Mumbai faced some anxious moments when Kieron Pollard hurt himself during the nets but the team management indicated that the West Indian all-rounder will be available for the semi-final.
Both these teams were written off before the tournament, but both have defied skeptics to gatecrash their way into the semifinals.
However, the Harbhajan Singh-led Mumbai have a slight edge since they are better equipped to handle the conditions having played two of their matches on the slow pitch in Chennai.
On the other hand, Somerset, having played their qualifying rounds in Hyderabad and then their Group-B league ties in Bangalore and Hyderabad, will find it difficult to adapt.
Posted by Ak Reddy
on 03:40.
Filed under