Week 4 - Match 1 - Kochi Tuskers vs Mumbai Indians

Welcome to the Jawaharlal Nehru International Stadium, home of the Kochi Tuskers.

Form

KT - DLL

MI - WLW

Pitch Conditions: A batting paradise especially in the first innings, very little for 'hit the deck seamers' although bowlers that can skid it on may find some assistance. Some slow spin in the second innings.

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Please post tactics below:

Mumbai Indians

1) Sachin Tendulkar (c)
2) Matt Prior (wk) - O
3) Chateshwa Pujara - U25
4) Rohit Sharma - U25
5) Harpreet Singh - U25
6) Kieron Pollard - O - U25
7) Roloef van der Merwe - O
8) Harbajhan Singh
9) Umar Gul - O
10) Lasith Malinga - O
11) Munaf Patel

Toss: Bat First

Batting

Our batting line up is long with Harby and Gul (at 8 and 9) able to hit out if needed. However we believe on a pitch such as this one that our lower order won't be required. Sachin will show all his skill and should have no problems on this pitch against the Kochi opening bowlers. Prior is opening this week in order to take advantage of the ball sitting up nicely off of the opening seamers to get us off to a flyer. Pujara, Rohit and Harpreet are all capable of clearing the ropes as well and so should give us a great platform from which to score 170-180+. With the huge hitters Pollard and VDM in the side at 6 and 7 this sort of score should be well within our grasp. If we do end up bowling first then we believe that our batting line up can chase down anything.

Bowling

As someone stated last week that bowling is the Indians strong point we should be able to defend most totals fairly comfortably. We will open the bowling with Munaf who has been recalled as he isn't the quickest of seamers and doesn't hit the deck. He should therefore be able to find the skid off of the pitch. Malinga will bowl from the other end as he is not a hit a deck the bowler and famously skids the ball on. Malinga will bowl 2 up front with Gul bowling the final over of the powerplay. At the other end Munaf will bowl all 3 of the powerplay overs, he will then be replaced by Harbajhan. Harbajhan will look for any slow spin that the pitch has to offer. If we bowl first then Harby will also look to cramp up the batsmen. Pollard will replace Gul. Pollard skids the ball on and will bowl cutters if we bowl in the second innings. To make sure the batsmen don't become settled against Pollard he will only bowl one over before being replace by VDM. VDM is a clever bowler and will use all of his variations especially the one that slides on to bamboozle the batsmen. He will bowl 2 overs from his end before being replaced by Pollard. Harby, meanwhile, will bowl all 2 of his overs before being replaced by Munaf for Munaf's last over. Harby will then return at the same end to complete his 4 allotted overs in overs 13 and 15. Over 14 will be bowled by the returning Pollard. This leaves the last 5 overs to be bowled by the two best death bowlers in the competition in Umar Gul and Lasith Malinga. They will do what they do best and look for yorkers as well as all of their other variations. If spin is being very effective when we are bowling then Kieron Pollard's second over and Munaf Patel's fourth over could be bowled by VDM or Rohit Sharma.

Overs:

Munaf - 4 overs (1,3,5,11)
Malinga - 4 overs (2,4,17,19)
Gul - 4 overs (6,16,18,20)
Harbajhan - 4 overs (7,9,13,15)
Pollard - 2 overs (8,14)
Van der Merwe - 2 overs (10,12)

Just out of interest Gregers, ddi you consider opening with VDM? Cause he has been batting in the top 3 for Somerset and being very effective? Although on the flip side Prior isn't much use in T20 cricket unless he is opening the batting for me.

I did consider it mate but wanted prior over Shah or Chandimal this week. Thought VDM would excel on this pitch tho

i take it we are not voting on this game just yet lol..

Gregers you've got your team spot on this week a reckon mate

Cheers Liam,

Anyone else got an opinion as I feel I'm at a disadvantage given that Kochi haven't turned up!

How are you at a disadvantage mate?

I could have picked any side and won automatically. So do I have the right balance etc

Yes you do

Apologies all for not getting this done last week

Silly question, does "U25" mean 24 and under, or 25 and under? - edit, figured it out

25 and under i think mate

Cheers CF - I realised the bolded names on my squad list in https://www.606v2.com/t14862-kochi-tuskers-kerala-team-thread were the U25s

Kochi Tuskers:
1) Tanmay Srivastava U25
2) Phillip Hughes O, U25
3) Brendon McCullum (W) O
4) V.V.S Laxman
5) Parthiv Patel
6) Cameron White O
7) Daniel Vettori O, (C)
8) Kamran Khan U25
9) Piyush Chawla U25
10) Shoaib Akhtar O
11) R.P.Singh U25

Toss: Bat First

Batting
I've tried to go with a mix of hitters and more solid plyers in the top order just in case Malinga gets his tail up, with White to lead the end of innings slog. If McCullum can get away then a pretty big score is in prospect.


Bowling
Given certain comments in his autobiography Akhtar gets a chance to put his money where his mouth is and open up against Sachin - should be some fireworks either way, then Kamran Kahn comes on in the 5th over. RP Singh will start off at the other end for 2 overs, before Vettori bowls the final powerplay over as the start of a 3-over spell.

Vettori's mastery of flight should see him containing in the middle even without a lot of turn off the deck. Chawla shares the mid-innings work with Vettori, replacing Kamran Khan in the 9th for 2 overs and getting a 2 over spell from the other end later in the innings. Cameron White provides the 6th bowling option, if spin is working and in case Shoaib is having an off day (his 1st over could be bowled by Kamran, and his 2nd by Shoaib)

Shoaib Akhtar - 3 overs (1,3,13)
R.P.Singh - 4 overs (2,4,15,20)
Kamran Khan - 3 overs (5,7,19)
Daniel Vettori - 4 overs (6,8,10,18)
Piyush Chawla - 4 overs (9,11,14,16)
Cameron White - 2 overs (12,17)

Good side mate but if you are gonna play VVS in T20 then ideally he has to bat in the top 3.Same with Parthiv Patel.maybe less so in case of Parthiv but I think VVS will struggle outside the top 3.

shankythebiggestengfan wrote:Good side mate but if you are gonna play VVS in T20 then ideally he has to bat in the top 3.Same with Parthiv Patel.maybe less so in case of Parthiv but I think VVS will struggle outside the top 3.

You're probably right on VVS. My hand was a bit forced with him, as I'd never heard of a couple of my other Indian players. I couldn't even find Ganaeswara Rao on Cricinfo's Statguru . I remember watching Parthiv play a fairly useful hand in the middle order last IPL though.

Perhaps the better option would have been to play Sreesanth instead of Akhtar, and use Jayawardene or Shah. But I just don't like Sreesanth

to be honest though i was suprised that kamran khan was in your side ahead of sreesanth

cricketfan90 wrote:to be honest though i was suprised that kamran khan was in your side ahead of sreesanth

I know, probably a mistake. But I've acknowledged my bias . And Kamran's (albeit on not many games) got better stats.

I'll have a think about your Murali question this evening too CF. I could do with a reasonable Indian middle order batsman.