Kieron Pollard will not fire all the time. This trump card doesn’t come with a guarantee. But when Pollard clicks, he makes things so much difficult for whichever team’s facing Mumbai Indians. Ask Delhi Daredevils. It bore the brunt of his 35-ball 65 before going down by 146 runs. The six-foot-four Trinidadian, by attacking and counter-attacking in the middle order, can launch Mumbai Indians to great totals or prevent it from spiralling down.
The diminutive wicket-keeper has scored the most runs for Mumbai Indians this season. Atop the order, he isn’t electrifying, but brisk enough to get his team off to a good start. He has not the brawn to constantly send the ball over the ropes, but possesses the brain to look for gaps, and jump into quick singles and punish the bad balls.
Chris Lynn would have been a sure-shot orange cap contender if he wasn’t derailed by a mid-tournament shoulder injury. For, he’s scored 291 runs in the six games he played in the tournament. But it’s the pace at which he scored them makes jaws drop, and heads ache for the opposition bowlers. If Lynn is let loose, then he will snatch the game away from Mumbai.
A slump in form in the last few league games set the Kolkata Knight Riders skipper back in the race for the tournament’s leading run-scorer. David Warner, at 641 runs, is way ahead. Gambhir needs 155 more runs to wrest the orange cap from Warner, who’s now out of the tournament. But he’ll be worried more about beating Mumbai Indians, against which KKR has lost twice this season. He acknowledged the same after steering his team to victory in a rain-affected Eliminator. “We don't have a good record against Mumbai, but hopefully we can settle that tomorrow,” he said.
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