Mumbai look to stay group leaders

With their pride dented after they failed to defend the Ranji crown last year, Mumbai started this season with honest intentions of bouncing back. Going into their final league match, things couldn't have been more positive: with 26 points, Mumbai lead Group A and are the only team in the Super League to have won four matches outright.

The main target for them, against Punjab at the Brabourne Stadium, will be to finish at the top. The confidence shows in that they have already announced their starting XI. The favourites are also in a position to experiment: Dhawal Kulkarni, the highest wicket-taker this season, has been rested. Kulkarni has become Mumbai's strike weapon despite Ajit Agarkar's presence in the side. Agarkar, who has not had a great season so far, will miss his second game in a row because of a viral fever.

Wasim Jaffer felt the challenge for the other fast bowlers was to emulate Kulkarni. "He [Kulkarni] has been exceptional, has been the key to our victories, and it is now for the others to perform," Jaffer said.

Mumbai will continue trying different combinations after having given opportunities to the second string of Kshemal Waingankar, Rahil Shaikh and Ankeet Chavan against Orissa. While Abhishek Nayar, Rajesh Verma, Usman Malvi and Ramesh Powar will come back, Waingankar, Sairaj Bahutule, Vinayak Mane and Sahil Kukreja will be missing.

Malvi was benched in the previous round while Verma was unfortunate to miss the campaign, having suffered a freak injury after he slipped in his house just before the tournament started. Powar, who was rested against Orissa, was never in doubt as he has been Mumbai's premier spinner even as Bahutule has struggled to find form. The selectors opted to give the senior legspinner a break, and young left-arm spinner Chavan another chance. Kukreja will miss his second game this season, having struggled in the first innings of prior matches.

Nayar, who has missed the season so far because of dengue, is a key inclusion. His proven abilities with both ball and bat are vital for Mumbai, who still have a few creases to iron out. Their middle order has not been consistent. Amol Muzumdar's form (an average of 25.44 and two half-centuries in six matches) is a matter of concern, as the inconsistency of Rohit Sharma, who has not done much apart from a century in one session against Rajasthan. Rohit, having played only three matches, has the leeway that Muzumdar doesn't.

With the ball, Mumbai would like to wrap up tails faster than they have been doing so far. "We have had long conversations about our weak points," Jaffer said. "With Sachin [Tendulkar] and Zaheer [Khan] expected to join from the quarter-finals, the challenge now is for the players to perform and cement their places."

Pankaj Dharmani, Punjab's captain, conceded that the visitors had only a thin chance of upsetting Mumbai, but Jaffer was not willing to relax. "There is no reason why we should not go flat out. If Gujarat win outright, and we take first-innings [lead] they finish on top, so we need make sure we win," he said.

Jaffer will not mind the absence of Manpreet Gony, though. Gony, who shot to fame during the inaugural IPL, has been forced to sit out because of a shoulder injury. Punjab do not want to risk aggravating the injury to his bowling shoulder, which he picked in the previous game against Hyderabad. "He has a slight tendinosis [muscle pull] in his right shoulder, and even though it is mild he needs to rest it," said Nikhil NP, Punjab's physio.

Gony, the second-highest wicket-taker (15) for Punjab, could have been influential on a pitch that Dharmani thought was "pace-friendly". The responsibility now lies with their best bowler, Gagandeep Singh (19 wickets), who is likely to be supported by Siddarth Kaul and Amanpreet Singh, with Sarabjit Ladda being the main spinner. Ladda, who took a career-best 9 for 111 against Hyderabad last week, turned the match on its head to help Punjab register their second victory.

Punjab have never managed to scale the heights they achieved under the guidance of Inthikab Alam, the Pakistan legend, who was their coach in 2004-05 and 2005-06. They reached the final in 2004-05, but later suffered a huge loss when many established players defected to the ICL. Dharmani admitted it was a developing squad, and his only message to the team was that they had a mountain to climb. "Mumbai are the team to beat, and so they need to rise to the occasion."

Teams
Mumbai: Wasim Jaffer (capt.), Ajinkya Rahane, Amol Muzumdar, Rohit Sharma, Abhishek Nayar, Ramesh Powar, Vinayak Samant (wk), Ankeet Chavan, Usman Malvi, Rajesh Verma, and Rahil Shaikh.

Punjab (probable): Pankaj Dharmani (capt.), Sunny Sohal, Karan Goel, Ravi Inder Singh, Uday Kaul (wk), Ankur Kakkar, Varun Khanna, Gagandeep Singh, Siddharth Kaul, Sarabjit Ladda, and Amanpreet Singh