The Mumbai Indians came into the Champions League as one of the strongest contenders for the title, but after just one match, they find themselves under a little bit of pressure. Their loss against the Highveld Lions is even more significant in the context of this match. That is because the team they will be facing - the South Australia Redbacks - are just coming off a good victory over the Lions.
A win for Mumbai here would even the scales in Group B to a large extent, but if the Redbacks win, it would have the twin effect of making their semi-final spot much more assured, while Mumbai's chances will take a severe hit.
The Mumbai squad though, will expect a much better performance from themselves than the one they put on against the Lions. If rustiness was an excuse then, it cannot be so now, and the discipline in the field and while bowling has to go up by several notches for Mumbai. The other thing Mumbai need to sort out are the sometimes-strange tactics used by skipper Sachin Tendulkar. In the opening match, it could be argued that Tendulkar's tactics were equally responsible for the defeat as the lethargy in the field and the freebies while bowling. In this match, they cannot afford to repeat the same mistakes.
Part of the strategy should be to decide exactly who their four foreign players will be. Pollard and Malinga are certainties, given that Malinga is probably the best limited-overs bowler in the world and Pollard the most devastating hitter. The contenders for the other two spots are Dwayne Bravo, Ryan McLaren and JP Duminy. If Mumbai decide to go with McLaren and Duminy, then they must make effective use of McLaren's bowling capabilities - which they failed to do last time. Their Indian contingent was thrown a bit off-balance with the absence of Saurabh Tiwary, but if he hasn't recovered, getting Dwayne Bravo in place of McLaren might not be a bad idea, since Bravo is a better batsman than McLaren.
South Australia don't have too many selection issues, and the return of Callum Ferguson was a shot in the arm for the side. Though captain Michael Klinger played the main hand in their last win, Ferguson's support act cannot be emphasized enough. It was he who provided the initial spark, taking the attack to the bowlers. For a brief while, he even looked like he would end up out-scoring his captain, but a run-out ended his innings.
Their bowling is led by the pacy Shaun Tait. The last time Tait bowled to Tendulkar (and Mumbai) in a Twenty20 match was in the second match of IPL 2010, while playing for Rajasthan. He was taken apart in the opening overs by Tendulkar and co, and he will be eyeing the chance for payback keenly. His duel against Tendulkar will be amongst the contests to watch out for in this match.
South Australia has fewer international stars than Mumbai, but they gel together as a team better, and can count on being superior in the field. In spite of that, because of Mumbai's international quality, they will go into the match as slight favourites. However, in the slam-bang, hit-miss world of Twenty20 cricket, the word 'favourites' does not carry much weight, and Mumbai will be aware of that.
