What could be in store for a team that has managed just a single win out of its six matches at the IPL and that too because of the rain, Incidentally, MI is the side that has given them their biggest drubbing in the tournament so far.
The Knight Riders’ long list of misery continues as they now head for East London. Sachin Tendulkar’s Mumbai, smarting from the last-over defeat against Kings XI Punjab on Wednesday, will be there to receive them and of course, look forward to hand over another thumping defeat as they did the last time.
Shah Rukh Khan, the owner of Knight Riders, has said that he won’t return to South Africa until his team wins a few matches.
There’s little hope left for them to reach the semi-finals. Knight Riders desperately need to put aside all differences whatsoever and pick themselves up because they definitely seem to have a bit of talent needed to do so.
Starting with Brendon McCullum and Chris Gayle to Sourav Ganguly, Moises Henriques, Brad Hodge and Laxmi Ratan Shukla, they can at least give another decent shot to what’s left out here.
Against Mumbai once again, it won’t be easy though. Tendulkar and Jayasuriya were both dismissed cheaply against Kings XI Punjab and they’ll be looking to make up for it.
JP Duminy seems to have his head on his shoulders given his composed half-century on Wednesday and there are also the likes of Harbhajan Singh and Abhishek Nayar to lift their spirits.
There are chances that Ganguly will finally be promoted up the order, as McCullum suggested the other day. Inside the camp, there are also rumours that the skipper asked Ganguly if he’d be interested in taking up the captaincy once again, but the latter refused. However, the fact remains that the side is definitely considering giving Ganguly a lot more say than what has been the case so far.
Why the sudden change though, one might ask? Simply because every other strategy they’ve come up with so far has failed.
If Ganguly’s given any kind of freedom, expect Bangladesh all-rounder Mashrafe Mortaza to play his first game at the cost of Hodge or Henriques. Even Shukla will get to play up the order.
