New Delhi: The 32nd match of the 2015 Indian Premier League (IPL) will witness a confident Rajasthan Royals side taking on an under-performing Mumbai Indians side.
Both the sides have plenty of match winners, but as of now, RR have seemed hit the right note winning five of their nine matches and are placed second in the points table. Of those nine matches, two were no results.
For the Mumbai franchise, despite having one of the strongest squads in the competition, are yet to start playing as a team. They have lost five from seven matches played so far and are seventh in this eight-team tournament.
Let's look at five players who can change the fortunes of their respective sides:
1. Shane Watson (RR): After missing some matches in the start of the tournament, the skipper has returned with a bang to help Rajasthan Royals keep their winning momentum with an explosive 73-runs innings. He followed that innings with a cameos of 45 and 26. However, the Aussie all-rounder is yet to show his full abilities, failing to take wickets. He is expected to fire today.
2. Ajinkya Rahane (RR): 323 runs in seven innings with a strike-rate of 122.81. That's Ajinkya Rahane's figures so far in this so-called fast-past Twenty20 cricket tournament. Having spent most of his playing career as a middle-order batsman with little or no power shots, however, the diminutive batsman has proved he is one of the hottest properties in world cricket now with an inviable array of shots.
He is the leading scorer in IPL 8. And he is expected to continue his rich form.
3. Rohit Sharma (MI): He is one the blue-eyed boys of Indian cricket. Insanely talented! But the Mumbai Indians skipper is yet to do justice to all the adjectives showered to his batting prowess. Yes, he has been amongst the runs, but ended up most of the times, in the losing side. What his team needs is more and more big innings from the skipper.
And it's right time to start, at home, against one of the top teams. By the way, he has been nominated for the prestigious Arjuna Award by the Indian cricket board.
4. Kieron Pollard (MI): Hate him or love him, you just can't ignore Keiron Pollard. The maverick West Indian is certainly the 'It' player of the team. He can destroy any bowling unit with his batting, and he can also reduced any batting line-up with his more than effective bowling. And if both fails, he can bring in his antics.
5. Steven Smith (RR): Certainly enjoying an extended summer of cricketing brilliance, Steven Smith has somehow, failed to perform in the last couple of innings for Rajasthan Royals. Having lead the franchise to impressive outings when the regular skipper in Shane Watson was unavailable due to injury, many would expect the 25-year-old Australian to continue the momentum, with bat. He certainly need to increase the stakes.
