CLT20: Mumbai Indians v Rajasthan Royals - Familiar foes face off in the Tournament Opener

Kieron Pollard and Shane Watson: Clash of the all-rounders

The stage is set for yet another brand new edition of Karbonn Champions League T20. The tournament, that started way back in 2009, has been a perfect platform of some budding cricketers who are waiting to showcase their skill to the cricketing world. The tournament had produced many exciting talents in the past that includes the West Indian duo of Keiron Pollard and Sunil Narine.

The 2013 edition will see eight teams competing in the main round. Four teams participated in the qualifying round out of which the Otago Volts and Sunrisers Hyderabad made it to the the main round while Kandurata Maroons and Faisalabad Wolves left home empty handed.

The main round is set to kick off at the Sawai Man Singh stadium in Jaipur with an all-Indian battle. The defending IPL Champions Mumbai Indians will take on the former IPL Champions and CLT20 newcomers, Rajasthan Royals, in a high voltage clash. The game is set to begin at 8:00 PM IST (1430 GMT).

Mumbai Indians have tasted success in the CLT20 in the past in 2011 but the Royals are rookies in the tournament. Both sides are competitive and will look to gain momentum early in the tournament. Two Indian cricketing legends, Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid, will be a part of their respective sides and will face off each other for one final time (they could play against each other if both these sides qualify for the finals).

Both these sides are have a strong make up and revolve around their all-rounders. Mumbai Indians will be missing the services of their star bowler Lasith Malinga which could be a major blow for the men from Mumbai. However, his absence will not be felt if their Aussie quick, Mitchell Johnson fires with the new ball.

Rajasthan are not missing any key players apart from the four players, S. Sreesanth, Ajit Chandila, Ankeet Chavan and Siddharth Trivedi, who were banned for their role in the IPL spot fixing scandal.

The weather prediction for the day is not a positive one. The meteorological department has predicted scattered thunderstorms for the match day at Jaipur. The Royals always had an impressive record at home and will look their domination at their own backyard. Both these teams have played each other 12 times with Mumbai Indians coming out victorious 7 times. Last time, when these teams met in the qualifier 2 of the 2013 IPL, Mumbai Indians sneaked home courtesy a swashbuckling innings from Dwayne Smith and late heroics form Harbhajan Singh.

Apart from the main battle, there are several small battles that could be a delight for the cricket aficionados.

Mumbai Indians:

Dwayne Smith and Sachin Tendulkar: Can they give Mumbai Indians a good start?

The Mumbai Indians’ wheel revolves around their Caribbean import, Keiron Pollard. They would expect Dwayne Smith to go after the bowlers in the initial overs and allow Sachin Tendulkar to build an innings and set the platform to launch for Pollard, Rohit Sharma and Glenn Maxwell.

Dinesh Karthik too is in good touch and will steady the ship in case of early wickets. Ambati Rayudu, as always, will be used as a floater in the batting line up as he has the knack of finishing the innings off in style. As far as Pollard and Maxwell are concerned, they will look to go after the Royals bowling from the word go.

The only confusion in the batting line-up is the batting position of their skipper Rohit Sharma. Sharma, who cemented his place in the ODI team as an opener, has been brilliant against the new ball. He takes his time to settle in and once set, he takes on the bowlers thrashing them to all parts of the ground.

However, Mumbai have been quite successful in using Dwanye Smith as an opener. The West Indian international can exploit the field restriction overs and score some quick runs for his side. It will be interesting to see who partners Sachin Tendulkar to open the innings.

Their bowling department looks decent despite the absence of Malinga. Johnson has got his rhythm back and will look to destroy the oppositions’s top order. Rishi Dhawan, a completely unknown commodity, has the ability to swing the ball both ways in the initial overs. Rohit Sharma can also use Pollard and Smith as a medium pace bowling option.

As far as the spin department is concerned, Mumbai have a formidable pair of bowlers who complement each other very well. Harbhajan Singh and Pragyan Ojha have done it in the past for Mumbai and a lot is expected from the spin twins in this edition of CLT20. Glenn Maxwell, too, provides some extra support to the spinners.

Possible Playing XI: Sachin Tendulkar, Dwayne Smith, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Rohit Sharma (captain), Ambati Rayudu, Keiron Pollard, Glenn Maxwell, Rishi Dhawan, Mitchell Johnson, Harbhajan Singh, Pragyan Ojha.

Mumbai might try to deploy Nathan Counter-Nile instead of Maxwell to provide the supporting cast to Mitchell Johnson and might bring in Suryakumar Yadav instead of Rishi Dhawan.

Rajasthan Royals:

Rahul Dravid and Shane Watson: Key to Royals’ success

Rajasthan Royals has been the underdogs in every editions of the IPL. They have a unique formula to win matches that other teams don’t. Usually teams prefer opening the innings with a batsman who can go after the bowling but the Royals think tank thought otherwise and brought forward an innovative idea of opening the innings with their skipper Rahul Dravid and Ajinkya Rahane, who are considered as slow starters.

In the past, both the batsmen have done their job perfectly and they set the platform for Shane Watson and Brad Hodge to take centre stage. Royals also have the exciting and young Sanju Samson in their line-up. His heroics in the 2013 IPL earned him the Under-23 rising star of the tournament award. Stuart Binny, the veteran all-rounder from Karnataka, has been used as the floater in the line-up.

In James Faulkner and Kevon Cooper, the Royals have two all-rounders tailor made for T20 format. Both can use the long handles well and can hit the ball way out of the ground. Adding to their hard hitting skills, they are good T20 bowlers, who can mix up their variations to create doubts in batsmen’s mind and have a good slower ball to confuse the batsmen.

Their bowling department that comprises of Rajiv Shukla and Vikramjit Malik is very inexperienced. They do not have the cushion of having a genuine spinner in their side. All-rounder Ashok Meneria, who had a great series against New Zealand A, has to take responsibilities of spin department.

Apart from his batting powers, Shane Watson will look to contribute to the team with the ball as well. He had done it for Australia and Royals in the past and look will to continue it in the CLT20 as well.

Possible Playing XI: Rahul Dravid (captain), Ajinkya Rahane, Shane Watson, Sanju Samson (wk), Stuart Binny, Brad Hodge, Ashok Menaria, Kevon Cooper, James Faulkner, Vikramjeet Malik, Rajiv Shukla.

With two equally matched teams fighting each other in the opening game of the 2013 CLT20, a cracker of the match is on the cards. The fans will hope for the rain gods to stay away from the SMS stadium in Jaipur.