Rajasthan Royals challenge for Mumbai Indians
An off colour Rohit Sharma-side have a daunting task in hand as they take on Rajasthan at Motera today
Can music be annoyance to the ears? Yes, especially when you are in a somber mood. This was evident when a DJ was adding final touches to his preparations on the eve of the IPL match between Rajasthan Royals and Mumbai Indians at Motera stadium here on Monday.
When the Mumbai outfit formed a huddle for a pep talk from coach Ricky Ponting, loud music proved to be a nuisance for the players. Taking note of it, Mumbai Indians manager Rahul Sanghvi asked the DJ to stop the music.It was a natural reaction as Ponting is facing an atypical situation. The Australian legend has rarely come across a situation as a player or as a captain, wherein his team has suffered two consecutivedefeats. After going down to defending champions Kolkata Knight Riders in the opener, Mumbai Indians were outplayed by Kings XI Punjab on Sunday.
The biggest challenge for Ponting will be to motivate his batsmen Aaron Finch and captain Rohit Sharma in particular. For Mumbai Indians, their fragile batting order was exposed against Punjab after the top order failed at the 'box office'. Had Harbhajan Singh not blasted a 25-ball 64, a three-figure score seemed distant for Mumbai. Despite having specialists like Kieron Pollard and Corey Anderson, the batting line-up has failed to click.
Ponting understands what it takes to formulate a winning habit. In the absence of master blaster Sachin Tendulkar, who is away in Singapore, Ponting ensured that his boys remained cheerful and kept their previous defeats behind them. He encouraged everyone as Mumbai Indians played Australian Rules football under the floodlights at Motera.
From a local point of view it will be interesting to see if Parthiv Patel makes the cut for the final eleven. Moreover, Jaspreet Bumrah, who was expensive against Kings XI Punjab, will keep his fingers crossed.
In contrast, Rajasthan Royals will look to extend their winning streak. The team has surprised everyone as they did in past. Not only they have scored two out of two, but presented one more future star in form of Deepak Hooda.
The Baroda batsman's match winning innings against Delhi Daredevils at Kotla cleared showed Royals' knack of grooming talent.