Rohit Sharma has been in inspired form since becoming Mumbai captain
The two form teams of the moment meet in one of the final clashes of the league stage. How will top placed Mumbai fare against the team in third spot, Rajasthan? Richard O'Hagan previews what should be a close game.
Mumbai Indians v Rajasthan Royals
Wednesday 15 May, 15:30hrs BST
Live on ITV4 and itv.com
Mumbai Indians
Mumbai blasted their way to the top of the Indian Premier League with a scintillating victory over Hyderabad on Monday. The visiting side must have believed that they had the points safely secured as Rohit Sharma's side left themselves needing over 15 an over from the final 24 balls. Then Kieron Pollard finally produced the innings that Mumbai have been expecting from him, blasting his way to 50 from only 20 deliveries. His final score of 66 included 8 sixes, six of them struck off the hapless Thisara Perera. They justifiably sit atop the league as only Bangalore have scored more runs than them and only (and slightly bizarrely) Pune have batted for longer. Their only real concern at the moment is in the spin bowling department, where Pragyan Ohja was expensive for the second match running. They will hope that the hand injury which caused Sachin Tendulkar to retire hurt on Monday is not a serious one, but the Little Master has been in very average form this year and would not be too hard to replace.
Rajasthan Royals
One of the consequences of Pollard's blitz was that Rajasthan found themselves bumped down to third in the table on net run rate. That is surprising, because they are the form team of the IPL, on an unbeaten run of four games, including victory on Sunday over long-time leaders Chennai. That win came courtesy of another supreme batting effort from an overseas player as the much-maligned Shane Watson struck 70 runs from just 34 balls in a 93 run partnership with Stuart Binny that brought Rajasthan from the brink of defeat at 45-4 to a five wicket victory. They really are a team who are more than the sum of their parts and Rahul Dravid has done a fine job of moulding a winning side out of a tiny budget. Wicket taking has been a problem for them in recent games - they average a shade over four per match - but the batsmen have been in such fine form that it hasn't mattered. Remember also that the last time they bowled a side out, it was Mumbai that they skittled - and for just 92 runs, too.
Venue and Conditions
Mumbai just clung on to their unbeaten record at the Wankhede Stadium on Monday. That game was the first time that they have batted second at home in 2013 and it will be very tempting for Dravid to bat first if he gets the chance. This is one of the higher scoring grounds in the IPL and Monday's 178 by Hyderabad was barely par here. Wednesday promises to be a warm, dry, day, but with some significant cloud cover which may be of some help to the bowlers but will also make it very humid.
Match Odds
You might expect that the odds for a game between the two form sides in the IPL would result in very close odds, but that isn't the case. Mumbai are firm favourites at 1.654/6 with Rajasthan out at 2.35/4. Obviously that unbeaten home record counts for something, but both sides have had slightly fortunate wins on the back of astounding batting in their last two games, so the better bet is definitely Rajasthan.
Top Mumbai Batsman
Disabuse yourself of one notion here. Pollard isn't going to do that again. His record in one day cricket suggests that he has an innings like this every once in a while, but rarely repeats the feat next time out. In short, he's no Chris Gayle. Sharma, by contrast, played a good innings around him, never looking in any trouble. He has been in wonderful form since taking over the captaincy from Ricky Ponting, and should be available at around 4.3100/30.
Top Rajasthan Batsman
One of Rajasthan's strengths in recent weeks has been the way that their batsman have all chipped in when the need was there. There's a temptation to focus on the big names such as Dravid and Watson, but the lesser known players have played their part, too. One who has caught the eye has been Sanju Samson, who normally bats at four or five and who has a happy knack of following a low score with a decent one. As he made a duck on Sunday, back him to atone for it today at odds of around 5.59/2
Recommended Bet:
Back Sanju Samson at around 5.59/2 to top score for Rajasthan Royals
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