Sachin's Men Take on 2008 Champ

Mumbai: Rajasthan Royals would be hoping to negate the Tendulkar factor when they play Mumbai Indians. The second game of IPL 2010 sees Mumbai Indians taking on Rajasthan Royals at CCI Stadium in Mumbai.

Sachin Tendulkar. Coming into the IPL 2010 season on the back of his epochal ODI innings of 200*, Sachin would be the mainstay of the Mumbai Indians batting line-up. His presence in the dressing room is also a big boost for the team. Harbhajan Singh and Zaheer Khan are also looking in good form and could trouble the opposition. They are on home turf this year and the support of the home crowd could give the team that much needed boost.

The Rajasthan Royals, on the other hand, would want rectify the mistakes they made last season and start on a winning note. With Graeme Smith, surprise pick Damien Martyn and Michael Lumb in their squad, the Royals have one of the most stable and experienced batting line-ups. They are hoping that Australian pacer Shaun Tait will be at his devastating best and rip through the Mumbai line-up.

The format of both the game and the tournament is such that neither team would want to start with a loss. Both teams would want to win the first game and build on the momentum through the competition. Playing in India could be a test for the bowlers and provide an exciting run fest for the fans.

Team from

Mumbai Indians: SR Tendulkar (capt), M Ali, DJ Bravo, S Dhawan, JP Duminy, CRD Fernando, Harbhajan Singh, ST Jayasuriya, Z Khan, DS Kulkarni, R McLaren, C Madan, I Malhotra, SL Malinga, GR Napier, AM Nayar, KA Pollard, AT Rayudu, R Sathish, KS Sahabuddin, R Shukla, AP Tare (wk), SS Tiwary

Rajasthan Royals: SK Warne (capt), SA Asnodkar, J Botha, FY Fazal, AA Jhunjhunwala, Kamran Khan, MJ Lumb, DR Martyn, AD Mascarenhas, M Morkel, S Narwal, NV Ojha (wk), MM Patel, YK Pathan, AG Paunikar (wk), SA Quadri, AS Raut, A Singh, GC Smith, SW Tait, SK Trivedi, SB Wagh

Pitch and conditions
CCI Stadium, Mumbai. This is the home ground of the Mumbai Indians. And the hosts will be pleased to know that all the fourteen Ranji Trophy finals the stadium has hosted featuring Mumbai have ended in a victory for the home team. With the match being held in the afternoon, the pitch should stay true for the entire game and assist the big hitters. It is also likely to help spinners.  

The weather at the Bradourne Stadium is hot and sunny with no threat of rain, and one can expect to enjoy forty overs of uninterrupted, exciting action.

Stats and trivia

• Rajasthan have won a couple of nail-biting games, one in each season: by five wickets off the final ball in 2008, and by two runs in 2009. The other game in 2009 was washed out, while Mumbai thrashed Rajasthan by seven wickets at the DY Patil Stadium in 2008
• Munaf, who has been made Rajasthan's bowling captain, had a solid 2009 season, bagging 16 wickets in 11 matches.
• Malinga's mix of bouncer and yorkers bamboozled batsmen last season - his 20 death overs (final six overs of the innings) went for only 5.80 runs each.
• One of Rajasthan's problems last year was that their batsmen didn't run up big scores - only five half-centuries in the entire tournament

Match facts
Saturday, March 13, 2010
Start time 15:00 local (09:30 GMT)