Day 1 IPL: Royals, Indians, Challengers, Super Kings

With the Indian Premier League all set to hit the ground, four teams viz., Mumbai Indians, Chennai Super Kings, Bangalore Royal Challengers and Rajasthan Royals will meet in two back-to-back matches on the opening day Friday in Cape Town. The Newlands Stadium will host some of the world’s great players, including South Africans.

After a grand reception party last evening, players of Mumbai Indians led by skipper Sachin Tendulkar will take on Mahendra Singh Dhoni's Chennai Super Kings in the first match in this second edition of IPL. Though the last time runners-up Super Kings are the favourite, but there is much to watch out for.

Super Kings, with players like all-rounder Andrew Flintoff, spin wizard Muttiah Muralitharan and the marvellous Matthew Hayden, would like to start their tour in a positive note under the captaincy of Dhoni, probably the best at present in international cricket.

The Super Kings management would also field the South African paceman Makhaya Ntini to catch the fancy of home crowd. In addition, Captain Dhoni will also try to live again those cheerful moments of Twenty20 World Championships which India won under his leadership.

On the other hand, the Mumbai Indians group that includes the explosive opener Sanath Jayasuria, all-rounder Dwayne Bravo, and off-spinner Harbhajan Singh have a lot to prove in this season. Sachin Tendulkar has though decided not to play in international T20 matches will no doubt deliver his best for the home side, taking his current form in the last New Zealand series.

The second match i.e. to be played at 8 pm (IST) is between the defending champion Rajasthan Royals led by the Australian Shane Warne and the Bangalore Royal Challengers.

England batsman Kevin Pietersen, one of the debutants in IPL league, will lead the Royal Challengers in place of Rahul Dravid. This time Dravid will only play as an icon player. However, the present team with home favourites like Dale Steyn, Mark Boucher, Jacques Kallis will certainly get the support from crowd it desperately needed to boost up their performances, which was completely out of place last year.

Shane Warne’s Rajasthan Royals would definitely like to repeat last year’s glory with players, such as the South African skipper Graeme Smith and Aussie pacer Shaun Tait. But they would certainly miss the performances of Sohail Tanvir, Shane Watson, which might insist a lot more effort from the younger Indian.