Mumbai Indians look to halt Rajasthan Royals march

Mumbai, May 6 (UNI) A resurgent Mumbai Indians side would be looking at keeping the winning momentum going when they take on the surprise leaders Rajasthan Royals in the DLF Indian Premier League match at the D Y Patil Stadium here tomorrow.

The dramatic turnaround in their fortunes notwithstanding, having beaten strong teams like Kolkata Knight Riders and Delhi Daredevils in their last two matches after four straight losses, Mumbai Indians will have a tough task in hand to stop the relentless march of Rajasthan Royals.

The home team is likely to miss the services of injured icon player and captain Sachin Tendulkar for their seventh match running.

But the Mumbai outfit, sixth in the table going into their needle clash under lights, have a tough task at hand now as it aims to halt the relentless progress of the Shane Warne-led and coached Jaipur franchise, which has surprised one and all with their brilliant performance after their only loss in the lung opener to Delhi.

First and foremost, the Mumbai Indians' batsmen need to convert their starts into big innings, as conceded by their veteran opener Sanath Jayasuriya yesterday who said that in a Twenty20 game at least one batsman in the top order needs to bat up to the 15th over.

A fascinating contest could evolve between Jayasuriya and the great Warne in the middle overs.

For this to happen, the Mumbai top-order needs to take head-on, Pakistani Sohail Tanvir, who had a sensational 6-14 haul that floored Chennai Super Kings at the Sawai Man Singh Stadium two nights ago, and the likes of Munaf Patel and Siddharth Trivedi.

The confrontation between the Marauder from Matara and the spin wizard from Oz should whet the appetite of the large crowd of over 50,000 that regularly assembles at this venue on what is widely expected to be the last match here of the season.

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