CLT20 2013 – 5th Match, Group A: Mum Indians v Otago, 23 Sep

Depleted Scorchers seek strong start | PunterPolls Prediction

CLT20 2013 - Mumbai Indians, the IPL champions, appeared rusty against Rajasthan Royals on a juicy pitch in Jaipur and with only three more matches remaining in the group stage for them, they will need to find their groove immediately. There aren't any such problems for the team they face next. Otago Volts came to the tournament as virtual unknowns but, given their three dominating outings in the qualifiers, they are now the team to watch out for.

Otago came into the tournament well-prepared: they played four Twenty20 matches in eight days in Sri Lanka and won all of them. The effect of match practice was visible in the manner they destroyed Faisalabad Wolves in their first match and Kandurata Maroons in the second. Sunrisers Hyderabad were expected to offer a sterner test, but they too were bulldozed in the final qualifier. Brendon McCullum, the Otago captain, has been in red-hot form and his presence has made an already strong batting line-up appear intimidating. Hamish Rutherford was solid at the top and Jimmy Neesham appeared unfazed by the quality of spin. Add Ryan ten Doeschate's all-round brilliance and a balanced bowling attack to the mix and it becomes clear why the team has won their last 13 T20s.

Read full article: http://www.espncricinfo.com/champions-league-twenty20-2013/content/story/673513.html

PunterPolls Prediction

First match already been washed out and chances for this match are very bleak. Will post whenever  the match will begin.

5th Match, Group A - Mumbai Indians v Otago, 23 Sep

  • Otago (28% Votes)
  • Mumbai Indians (72% Votes)

CLT20 2013 – 1st Match, Group A: Royals v Mum Indians at Jaipur, 21 Sep

Retiring legends face off in opener | PunterPolls Prediction

CLT20 2013 - 1st Group Match, The IPL champions, Mumbai Indians, take on the side that finished third in the tournament this year, despite all the adversity and negative publicity surrounding them because of the spot-fixing scandal. The attention will be on two legends on either side who will be playing their limited overs farewell tournament - Rahul Dravidand Sachin Tendulkar. Speaking ahead of the game, Dravid, the Royals captain, insisted that it was a contest between two teams and not two individuals. There's a match to be played, a tournament to be won and the Sawai Mansingh Stadium is a good place to start for the Royals who were unbeaten at their home venue throughout IPL 2013.

Royals have the core of their side intact. Shane Watson, who had a mixed tour of England, is coming off his match-winning 143 in the final ODI against England at the Rose Bowl. James Faulkner, the allrounder, finished the IPL season with 28 wickets at 15.25, and the Australian pair will be key to Royals' fortunes. They have the experienced Brad Hodge in the middle order, and Paddy Upton, the coach, said the team also had promising youngsters. "We are fortunate that the upcoming players like Sanju Samson and Dishant Yagnik and also Pravin Tambe, who was not so prominent, have done so well," Upton said. "It would important for us to keep the team in better shape because we have limited players now after the ban on few of our squad players."

Read full article: http://www.espncricinfo.com/champions-league-twenty20-2013/content/story/673115.html

 

PunterPolls Prediction


Royals v Mumbai, what else you want from a high profile tournament to start with the bang. Our experts have done so far so good to predict the six qualifier matches, but can they able to predict today? According to our experts, both teams are equally good. Mumbai will play without Mallinga and Royals with play full throttle at their home ground.

Looking at both teams performances and the home conditions chasing shouldn't be that difficult. However Royals does have better record on this ground both chasing and defending totals.

About the winner? - Will update this section or will post as comments after the toss and final eleven from both sides.

Update

Royals have won the toss and elected to field first, no surprises for our experts as they have predicted earlier that chasing shouldn't be difficult on this track.

Expected score shouldn't be more than 155 and we are in favour of Rajasthan Royals.

1st Match, Group A: Royals v Mum Indians at Jaipur, 21 Sep

  • Mumbai Indians (44% Votes)
  • Rajasthan Royals (56% Votes)

PunterPolls Prediction – Final: Chennai Super Kings v Mumbai Indians at Kolkata, 26 May

A final fighting for relevance | PunterPolls Prediction

The IPL final takes place in Kolkata on Sunday, but all the news surrounding the tournament is about events off the field. As Indian cricket and its fans grapple with the dismaying allegations of the past week, the old Apartheid-era slogan - No normal sport in an abnormal society - comes to mind. However, despite the formal charges of corruption against top Super Kings official Gurunath Meiyappan, the 2013 season will reach its scheduled end, when Chennai Super Kings play their fifth IPL final in six seasons, against Mumbai Indians at Eden Gardens. An assertion of the game being bigger than the individuals that comprise it, no matter how abnormal the environs.

Super Kings have had an outstanding season, finishing top of the league with 11 wins out of 16 games, and blazed through the first qualifier to seal their finals berth. They are the only team to have won more games than they lost away from home this season; they have the tournament's highest run-scorer and joint top wicket-taker. Their fielders have set standards not matched by most competitors. They have been the IPL's most formidable franchise since its inception, and have the opportunity to enhance that reputation by winning a third title. To do that, however, not only do MS Dhoni's men have to deal with, and overcome the turmoil caused by Meiyappan's arrest, but they also have to deal with a tough opponent.

Mumbai Indians. Their habit of buying the flavours of the season, and of tinkering constantly with their line-up, produced largely disappointing results in IPLs past. This season began the same way, but they took tough decisions - dropping Ricky Ponting and appointing Rohit Sharma as captain - and hit upon a balanced and successful combination earlier than usual. They delighted their home crowds by winning all eight matches at the Wankhede Stadium, but the final is at a neutral venue, and they lost five league games away from home. They are the best franchise to never win the IPL, but that accolade is a slight to the millions that have gone into making the team.

Read more / Source: espncricinfo.com

PunterPolls Predictions

If we look at the Mumbai Indians performances in the last match between Royals, only one expression - Shocking. This team can't play big matches. Their players break down in the pressure just like pop-corn. All they required one good performance in each department batting and bowling. This team with plenty of high profile cricketers with years and years of experience, played like an ordinary team.

On the other hand, Chennai Super Kings star players have played like super stars - Raina, Vijay, Jadeja, Bravo, Morris and who can forget Hussey and Dhoni. This team only can loose if they want to loose. This team does have guts and power to beat 'THE BAND' of best team of the world.  Only problem this team having is bowling and that too not to great extent.

As far as today match is concern, Only advantage that Mumbai does have over the CSK is that they have already played once over this ground/pitch. But last match pitch was quite different then the one we have seen in earlier matches of the tournaments. If today's match will going to be on the same pitch, definitely chasing team does have an advantage to chase the target below 175.

Our experts personal choice? - Chennai Super Kings

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IPL 2013: Final - CSK v Mum Indians, 26 May

  • Mumbai Indians (61% Votes)
  • Chennai Super Kings (39% Votes)

PunterPolls Prediction – Qualifier 2: Mumbai Indians v Rajasthan Royals at Kolkata, 24 May

Troubled Rajasthan aim to continue fairytale | PunterPolls Prediction

If Rajasthan Royals are able to produce two more good games, it will be a fairytale for them, according to their captain Rahul Dravid. In many ways, irrespective of what happens next, it is already a fairytale, one that has played out alongside a horrid nightmare during the past week. For a side like Royals to stand on par with and challenge the mightiest of IPL franchises, such as Chennai Super Kings and Mumbai Indians, is nothing short of a fairytale.

Sanju Samson, Dishant Yagnik, Stuart Binny, Vikramjeet Malik, Pravin Tambe, and Siddharth Trivedi up against million-dollar superstars. Unknowns against men such as Lasith Malinga and Kieron Pollard, who have defined Twenty20 cricket. A think-tank of Dravid, Paddy Upton, Monty Desai, and Zubin Bharucha, against a think-tank of John Wright, Sachin Tendulkar, Ricky Ponting, Anil Kumble, Jonty Rhodes and Robin Singh. "We don't believe in having bowling and fielding coaches," Dravid said. Belief comes automatically when you can't afford to have the luxury of a bloated support staff.

Even in a format that reduces relative superiority due to its crunched length, the second qualifier looks like a no-contest. But this is a knockout bout. Players and sides do strange things under pressure, especially in T20. They do stranger things in a T20 knockout situation. Ask Mumbai Indians. It's a phenomenon that keeps getting stranger and stranger with every passing season: they are yet to win an IPL title in five previous attempts. Their embarrassment of riches somehow turns into a proper embarrassment come knockout time. The latest instance was the first qualifier against Super Kings two days ago.

Dravid was right when he said after winning the eliminator that the pressure was on Mumbai Indians. Royals have made the playoffs for the first time in five seasons. They had little to lose against Sunrisers Hyderabad, and they will have less to lose against Mumbai Indians, a side that will feel it has not done well if it does not win the title, according to Dravid. Not only was that a smart way of reminding the opposition of the cross of expectation they bear, it was also the bitter truth.

Still, if Mumbai Indians had been asked to pick an opponent in a knockout situation, they would probably have chosen Royals, and would probably hope they could play the match as if it was a regular league game.

PunterPolls Predictions

Mumbai Indians, famous for crashing at big stages has to face gutsy Royals. Royals after been hammered by last week incidents is back strongly against the Sunrisers in the last match. Brad Hodge who has got quite a few opportunities in this tournament had proved himself in most of the times is danger man for Mumbai Indians here at Kolkata's Eden Garden.

That's for sure, that the pitch is slow and does support spinners and the team with good spinners does have better chances to win the game. But then, the team batsmen has to put enough run on the board. Rahul Dravid very well knows that MI does get under pressure while chasing and no-doubt would like to bat first after winning the toss. Whereas, Rohit Sharma must be in difficult position if will the toss. As they have two very good spinners and he knows his strength.

So, the toss does play an important role in this game, especially for Royals and our expert believe chasing 145+ is going to be difficult for Royals to chase. To keep in mind the strength of both  the teams, they have decided to go with Mumbai Indians.

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IPL 2013: Qualifier 2 - Royals v Mum Indians, 24 May

  • Mumbai Indians (61% Votes)
  • Rajasthan Royals (39% Votes)

PunterPolls Prediction – Qualifier 1: Chennai Super Kings v Mumbai Indians at Delhi, 21 May

Big boys kick off big week | PunterPolls Prediction

After 72 league matches - mismatches, in some cases - we're into the final week of the IPL. The most important week. The week Chennai Super Kings have negotiated five times previously, with more success than failure; they're the only team to progress past the league stage in every edition of the IPL so far, losing once in the semis, finishing runners-up twice (including last year), and winning the title in 2010 and 2011. Of the 10 playoff matches they've contested, they've won seven. They will go into the first qualifier knowing just how to win these big games, and with the cushion of having a second chance at making the final should they need it - both huge pluses.

But, in Mumbai Indians, Super Kings face the only IPL line-up that is arguably even stronger than their own. While the two teams match-up on the batting front - both in terms of proven performers and power-hitting - Mumbai hold the clear edge in the bowling department. This season, especially, Mumbai's bowlers have been lethal as a unit (as opposed to Lasith Malinga being the single biggest threat), with Mitchell Johnson swinging it at pace, Harbhajan Singh striking consistently while being economical, and Pragyan Ojha and Dhawal Kulkarni providing reliable support. They've already demolished Super Kings' line-up once this season, rolling them for 79 - the tournament's lowest total - at the Wankhede.

Both teams are coming off losses after seemingly letting their guard down in inconsequential matches, but before being tripped up in Dharamsala Mumbai had five comfortable wins in a row. Super Kings, on the other hand, have an up-and-down record of late after posting an record-equalling seven consecutive IPL victories earlier in the tournament. That has prompted talk of them having peaked too early.

Both teams have injury concerns to key players: Albie Morkel and Sachin Tendulkar. If Morkel is fit, he is likely to slot in as one of three overseas seam-bowling allrounders for Super Kings. If Tendulkar is fit, Mumbai will have to take a tough call - his replacement, Aditya Tare, has made two handy contributions, scoring rapidly as opener for a team that has got off to slow starts more often than not. Ambati Rayudu, who has 196 runs in 16 matches at 17.81, could be the one to miss out.

PunterPolls Predictions

Two big giants will take on each other in the sixth edition of the IPL. If we have look at the history, CSK is used to playing and performing at the big stages like this. They have been qualified 4 times to the final and have won twice. Whereas, Mumbai Indians do have records to get cracked under pressure especially at the big stage. Now cricket experts have start believing that Mumbai Indians are just like South Africans who used to crashed in the knock-out rounds.

In this tournament, Chennai have won and Mumbai have lost with 9 wickets in their games against Delhi Daredevils in the league matches. But Mumbai Indians does have mentally advantage over CSK as they have won both home and away matches against them. Both teams does have an extra cushion that they still have chance to qualify after loosing today's game. And our expert believe, this extra cushion should work in favor for Mumbai Indians in a way that they will be having less pressure and they can perform better.

Our experts believe that toss is going to play an important role today and team batting first scoring 160+ will have better chances to win this game. However, if team batting first fails to score 160, should be an easy chase for any team as both teams does have good batting line-up. 

Rest will meet you during the match.

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IPL 2013: Qualifier 1 - CSK v Mum Indians, 21 May

  • Mumbai Indians (51% Votes)
  • Chennai Super Kings (49% Votes)

PunterPolls Prediction – Match 69: Kings XI Punjab v Mumbai Indians at Dharamsala, 18 May

Mumbai Indians look to preserve dominance | PunterPolls Prediction

Sitting comfortably at the top of the table, Mumbai Indians have done enough to cement their place in the playoffs. In their last match of the league round against Kings XI Punjab, they would want to carry their winning momentum before meeting Chennai Super Kings in the first qualifier.

As formidable as they appear, their opponents would have made note of how the Mumbai batsmen managed just 34 runs in the last five overs against Royals. Prior to that match, against Sunrisers Hyderabad, Mumbai's batting was struggling until Kieron Pollard came in and thwarted Sunrisers with a blistering innings.

Sachin Tendulkar, who missed the previous game, has been declared fit* but could still sit out the game. "The games are coming thick and fast and it has been just three days since he sprained his wrist," Anil Kumble, the Mumbai Indians mentor, said. "Though he has recovered, he will probably give the match here a miss." Local boy Rishi Dhawan might also find a place in the side.

Sunrisers' victory over Rajasthan Royals put Kings XI out of the reckoning for the playoffs spot. With their tournament drawing to a close, Kings XI would like to register one last win and beating a high-profile team like Mumbai would certainly please their fans.

PunterPolls Predictions

We are not posting any prediction for this match, neither we are conducting in-play match polls.

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Match 69: Kings XI v MI, 18 May

  • Mumbai Indians (61% Votes)
  • Kings XI Punjab (39% Votes)