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Mumbai: Mumbai Indians captain Sachin Tendulkar won the toss and elected to bat against Royal Challengers Bangalore in the first IPL semifinal at DY Patil Stadium in Mumbai on Wednesday.
The Mumbai team not only has an extra advantage in home support but also a leader in Tendulkar, who has been in prime form in the tournament leads the run-getters chart.
Tendulkar, by and large, has been the fulcrum around which the Mumbai batting has revolved. With 561 runs with five half centuries and a strike rate in excess of 136, the master batsman has led the team from the front.
Mumbai would again be depending on the start provided by orange cap-holder Tendulkar.
If batting has been their cornerstone, the all-round effort in the bowling and fielding department has been the highlight of their successful IPL 3 campaign.
Harbhajan (15 wickets), Zaheer Khan (14) and death-bowling specialist Lasith Malinga (13) have done superbly both in terms of penetration as well as in economy while Pollard (11) too has chipped in nicely.
The fielding too has been brilliant, thanks mainly to the efforts put in by South Africa great Jonty Rhodes, who is the fielding coach of the outfit.
Bangalore, on the other hand, has slight edge in terms of experience with their array of battle-hardened international veterans in captain Anil Kumble, tournament's second-most run-getter Jacques Kallis and veteran Rahul Dravid.
With the likes of Manish Pandey, Kallis, Robin Uthappa, Virat Kohli, Ross Taylor and Kevin Pietersen up its rank, Bangalore boats of a formidable batting line-up.
Apart from Kallis, who has aggregated 542 runs with six fifties at a strike rate of close to 120, it has been Uthappa's pyrotechnics that come to the side's rescue on more than one occasion.
Bangalore's bowling department, meanwhile, rests mainly on the shoulders on Kumble (12 wickets), pace spearhead Dale Steyn (12) and Kallis (11) with Praveen Kumar (8) contributing at crucial times even though he has been expensive.
