Mumbai Indians upbeat against Royal Challengers

BANGALORE - Fresh from their emphatic eight-wicket victory over Delhi Daredevils Sunday, Mumbai Indians are raring to take on home team Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) Tuesday in the fourth edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) T20 at the Chinnaswamy stadium here.

”We are very happy with the way the team played in Delhi to win convincingly. The huge victory gave lot of confidence to the lads, especially the outstanding performance of (Lasith) Mahalinga who took the game away from Daredevils,” Mumbai Indians bowling coach Shaun Pollock told reporters late Monday at a pre-match presser here.

With the runners-up of the third edition of the IPL retaining most of its previous players in the squad, the team management is keen to rotate the players in the initial games to asses their depth in both the departments - batting and bowling.

”We will decide on the final 11 members after assessing the pitch and the playing conditions. We are aware of the home advantage RCB will have. We may rotate some players not for the sake of it but to give everyone an opportunity to play and perform to their potential,” Pollock said while his boys were sweating it out at the nets for the all-night match.

Asked if the veteran Aussie Andrew Symmonds would play in their second game, Pollock said his fitness would be assessed before the final selection as he had some niggles and was not playing for some time.

”We had to get him around as he was out of action due to injury and wasn’t playing for some time. We will take at his fitness and form to include or not. He is an important member of the team as he can bat and bowl in the middle overs,” Pollock noted.

Expressing confidence that Mahalinga would maintain his form as in their first game in Delhi, the former South African speedster said the Sri Lankan pacer was their strike bowler and would be able to perform on any good pitch.

”In this shorter version, he (Mahalinga) has been very successful even in the previous tournaments. He is accurate and dependable. He is in good form and able to bowl with variation,” Pollock added.