IPL 9: Mumbai look to make most out of home game

Buoyed by an emphatic win against Kolkata Knight Riders in their own bastion, defending champions Mumbai Indians host impressive Gujarat Lions at the Wankhede here on Saturday. The Rohit Sharma-led side had surrendered meekly against Rising Pune Supergiants here last weekend and they will look to better that performance.

With all the IPL games being shifted from Maharashtra after April 30, it will mean that Mumbai Indians can’t play their last three home games at their ‘fortress’ the Wankhede. Therefore Mumbai Indians will want to make maximum use of the remaining three games at Wankhede stadium against Gujarat Lions, Royal Challengers Bangalore and Kolkata Knight Riders.

Gujarat Lions have won both their games against Kings XI Punjab in Mohali and Supergiants in Rajkot. Their last win was on Thursday night so Suresh Raina side chose to rest here on Friday.

Mumbai Indians have selection decisions to make as Martin Guptill looked in good touch in the nets during a practice session on Friday. Guptill has replaced injured Lendl Simmons in the squad. The hosts also have also all-rounder Corey Anderson waiting for his chance. Fast bowler Tim Southee is likely to make way for one among his two Kiwi teammates.

The hosts got their act together in the batting with skipper Rohit leading the charge with match winning knock of unbeaten 84. Destructive middle-order batsman Jos Butler scored 41 after missing out in the first game. Parthiv Patel opened the innings with Rohit at Eden Gardens and gave fifty plus opening stand with Rohit. Last season he had given good starts consistently with Simmons at the top to turnaround things for Mumbai Indians after a poor start.

“Lendl has been a brilliant player for us. For last two years he scored lot of runs for us. Now he isn’t there, this gives opportunity to other player. I had good partnerships with him while opening the innings. Now I got opportunity to open with in-form Rohit Sharma. He makes batting easy that gives me confidence at the other end. We are upset that Lendl got injured but that’s something we can’t do anything about,” Partiv said.