Mumbai look to defuse T&T

The weather gods decided to make their presence felt in the capital on Friday, the eve of the second Champions League T20 semi-final between Mumbai Indians and West Indies’ side Trinidad & Tobago Red Force. Given that T&T will go through, even if there is a washout, on the basis of more wins in the league stage, MI players will pray to wake up to a clear sky on match day. The entire day saw a cloud cover here in the capital with slight drizzles at some places that forced the cancellation of MI’s practice session. But they will derive confidence from the weather forecast predicting a partly cloudy evening. The organisers have only kept a reserve day for the final. The IPL champions’ campaign was almost derailed in the league phase earlier after they had to share points with Otago Volts in Ahmedabad due to rains following their loss to Rajasthan Royals in their opening game. And the Rohit Sharma-led side owe a favour to the Royals, who kept them alive till the last day of the league stage, with a win over Otago. MI, though, ensured no hiccups in booking a semi-final berth with a commanding win over Perth Scorchers in their last game at the Kotla here on Wednesday, leapfrogging Volts on the basis of a better run-rate. If MI’s performance in the previous game is anything to go by, they will enter the contest high on confidence with the favourite tag tilted slightly in their favour. Dwayne Smith and Sharma have been their standout performers with the bat and one of them will have to be a major contributor on Saturday too. Other batsmen haven’t really got going for MI but it is the dry run of veteran Sachin Tendulkar’s that is hurting them. However, with Sharma saying that Tendulkar is due for a big knock, the Master Blaster may reproduce some old magic at the Kotla. But more than Tendulkar, T&T will be wary of Kieron Pollard, who hasn’t got much of a chance in the middle and can blow away the opposition on his day. MI’s bowling unit looks effective and need to carry on the good work they have done in the last two matches, restricting the rivals to a total below 150. T&T’s fortunes in the match depend largely on how their top bowling duo of Sunil Narine and Ravi Rampaul perform with the ball. Narine, specifically, is central to their scheme of things as rival batsmen have tried to play him out in earlier matches but the mystery spinner has managed to emerge as their top wicket-taker in the tournament so far with eight scalps. Opener Evin Lewis has been consistent and with all-rounder Lendl Simmons hitting form with the bat against Super Kings in the previous match, signs are good for the Denesh Ramdin-led side. However, it is Darren Bravo, their second top run-getter behind Lewis with two half-centuries to his name, who will look to provide solidity to their line-up.