Sachin, Sanath gear up for Shoaib's charge
Posted on May 16, 2008 at 15:31 | Updated May 16, 2008 at 18:31
Comments 
Email 
Print
Tags: cricket, ipl, mumbai
Mumbai: Two teams which are flying high at the moment will be locking horns at the Wankhede stadium on Friday. Mumbai Indians have won three on the trot and have Sachin Tendulkar back in their ranks and Sourav Ganguly's Kolkata Knight Riders too have a winning streak of their own to protect.
The leader of Kolkata is a man on a mission these days - his team has clawed its way back into contention for a semi-final spot and with both bat and ball, Sourav Ganguly has done enough to send this not so subtle reminder to the selectors about his One-Day pedigree.
"Rameez Raja said that I was looking very fit, young and bubbly on the field and from that point of view, I just joked and I am sure that Dilip (Vengsarkar) has seen me a lot more time - home and away. And as I have said before, my turn will come in One-Day cricket one day," said Sourav Ganguly.
And with his latest knight is in red-hot form, Ganguly has set him a challenge too.
"Get Sachin (Tendulkar), (Sanath) Jayasuriya and Robin Uthappa out and finish it. Simple!" said the former India skipper on his expectations from his strike bowler — Shoaib Akhtar.
Mumbai Indians are focussed on the short-term goals now. They know victory here will pull them level with the Knight Riders on the points table. Their home crowd is buoyant again after a hat-trick of victories and the skipper expects them to give the vocal chords a working over again.
"Very confident that it is going to continue like that and the crowd will be right behind us. We Mumbai players are enjoying out there in the middle," says Mumbai captain Sachin Tendulkar.
With five more games to go, it is a race to win - a semi-final berth for these teams. And in both cases the opening combination will be crucial. for Mumbai Indians, it will be Sanath Jayasuriya and Sachin Tendulkar whereas the Knight Riders would be banking on the Rawalpindi Express to produce yet another match-winning spell.
| Ads by Google |
Read Comment | Post Comment