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With 14 points on the board, Mumbai Indians need just one more win from their five remaining matches to progress to the semi-finals

The Preview by Jamie Alter09-Apr-2010Match factsFriday, April 9
Start time 2000 (1430 GMT)Dwayne Bravo and Kieron Pollard haven’t had a major impact on Mumbai’s campaign•Indian Premier LeagueBig pictureThe fortunes of these two teams could not be any different. With 14 points on the board, Mumbai Indians need just one more win from their five remaining matches to progress to the semi-finals. Kings XI Punjab, at the bottom of the points table, are all but out of contention for a final-four spot.With all their departments firing – that collapse against Chennai was an aberration – and comfortably perched at the top of the table, Mumbai have no real concerns. A win against Punjab will guarantee a spot in the final four and with it an opportunity to give some of their players a rest from the remaining league games. Three of those are against teams in the top four, as well as a resurgent Kolkata Knight Riders, so sealing vital points against Punjab is imperative.For a team that is yet to prove it can compete against the top sides, three of Punjab’s remaining games are against the most formidable outfits of the tournament – Mumbai, Delhi Daredevils and Chennai Super Kings. Punjab have been the worst fielding side, the batting has been inconsistent, and their problems have been exacerbated by the failure of their bowlers, who have taken just four wickets in the last two matches. Despite trying several combinations, Punjab’s woes have continued and their only incentive to win is to boost their chances of avoiding the wooden spoon.Form guide (most recent first)Kings XI Punjab LWLLL
Mumbai Indians LWWWWTeam talkWith R Sathish having little impact, his omission could be one of the changes in Mumbai’s XI. The man to step in could be Abhishek Nayar or Aditya Tare, the team’s primary wicketkeeper. Ambati Rayudu, in that role, has had trouble keeping to genuine fast bowlers. Zaheer Khan, who was rested against Chennai as a precautionary measure because of a swollen knee, is likely to return, as is Sachin Tendulkar, who suffered from dehydration in Chennai.Punjab have been chopping and changing their XI regularly but the results haven’t been significant. Juan Theron and Sreesanth were drafted back in for the last game but both bled runs, so Brett Lee could get another look-in despite his inability to manage a wicket in three games. Shaun Marsh is fit for selection and he could replace Ravi Bopara.Previously…Punjab 3 Mumbai 2
In 2008, Punjab won the first ever encounter between the two teams by 66 runs and then clinched a thriller in Mumbai by one run. In their first meeting last year , in Durban, Yusuf Abdulla helped Punjab win a last-over thriller. Mumbai then fought back with an easy eight-wicket win in Centurion. In 2010, Mumbai won a close match at home.In the spotlightSachin Tendulkar has spoilt the Mumbai crowd with his spectacular batting and the PCA Stadium will expect nothing else.Dwayne Bravo and Kieron Pollard: The West Indian stars were disasters with the bat during the loss against Chennai when a lot was expected of them. Bravo is a floater in the batting line-up but so far it seems he’s in the team primarily for his bowling. Pollard’s place in the line-up also hasn’t been settled but there’s a concern he’s being kept too low down. Against a side completely shorn of confidence, it may not be a bad idea to push this pair up and get their mojo going.Piyush Chawla: Just why he has been picked to go to the West Indies as part of India’s World Twenty20 squad is lost on many, because Chawla only has five wickets from ten games as compared to the 14 Delhi’s Amit Mishra has from as many outings at a far better economy and strike-rate. Chawla came in for heavy praise after the first IPL from Kumar Sangakkara but this season he’s not even been remotely dangerous.Prime Numbers The fact that Irfan Pathan (204) has outscored both Kumar Sangakkara (183) and Yuvraj Singh (198) this season highlights their lack of contributions to the team.Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan and Lasith Malinga are all tied on 11 wickets – leaving them joint No. 4 on the list of highest wicket-takers.

Following on from their impressive 1-0 win over Manchester United at Old Trafford in the Premier League last Monday, Wolves are in FA Cup action this afternoon with a clash against Championship side Sheffield United at Molineux. 

With Wolves having the likes of Jonny Otto, Pedro Neto, Yerson Mosquera and Hwang Hee-chan out injured and Romain Saiss away on international duty getting ready to take part in the Africa Cup of Nations, Bruno Lage will have to make do without several members of his senior squad.

On the other hand, with Wolves recently recalling Dion Sanderson and Ryan Giles from their respective loan deals in the Championship and securing a deal for Japanese midfielder Hayao Kawabe, these players could feature prominently today.

Taking all this into account, here’s how we feel Wolves could line up for their FA Cup clash against the Blades. We anticipate as many as seven changes from the side which started in the win at Old Trafford.

In goal, even though Jose Sa has kept eight clean sheets in his 19 Premier League appearances this season, we think Lage will take him out of the team on this occasion and give John Ruddy the chance to play.

In a back three, we can see the familiar duo of Conor Coady and Max Kilman starting, but with the recently-recalled Sanderson coming in for the absent Saiss to see if he can impress the manager and convince him that he deserves to be in the squad on a regular basis.

For the wing-back positions, on the right we think Lage will drop Nelson Semedo and give Ki-Jana Hoever a runout, with Rayan Ait-Nouri coming back in on the left after being on the bench against the Red Devils.

In the two central midfield positions, it’s entirely possible that Lage gives Monday’s match-winning hero Joao Moutinho a rest to save him for their next league outing against Southampton, with Leander Dendoncker coming in to take his place next to Ruben Neves.

With the front three, we can see Lage bringing in Adama Traore and Fabio Silva for Francisco Trincao and Raul Jimenez, who is currently earning £100k-per-week according to Salary Sport but is without a goal in his last six games, in order to freshen up the attack next to Daniel Podence.

In other news: Journalist drops 19-word Wolves update which will surely have a lot of fans fuming

A report commissioned by the players’ unions in England, Australia and South Africa has said that the recent terror threats are credible and that security cannot be guaranteed in India

Cricinfo staff21-Feb-2010A report commissioned by the players’ unions in England, Australia and South Africa and written by the England team’s security adviser Reg Dickason has said that the recent threat from the 313 Brigade, Al-Qaeda’s operational arm in Pakistan, is credible and that security cannot be guaranteed in India, according to newspaper reports in England and Australia. The assessment has apparently already been passed on to the players’ unions and the cricketers concerned have been informed of its contents.England are currently headed to Bangladesh for a full series after contesting a short two-match Twenty20 series against Pakistan in the UAE. The England players signed up for the IPL are Kevin Pietersen, Paul Collingwood, Eoin Morgan, Owais Shah, Ravi Bapora, Dimitri Mascarenhas, and Graham Napier. Collingwood, England’s Twenty20 captain, and Pietersen are expected to join the IPL only on March 24 but the rest are due to play the entire tournament.”I am aware of the reported security risks and am in constant communication with Delhi Daredevils,” said Collingwood, who till then had not seen the report. “I will make a decision once I have had a chance to review all the available information and talk to the relevant people.”A report in the said no final decision had been taken yet by the Australian Cricketers’ Association on what advice to give the country’s large contingent of players who have signed up with the IPL. ”We’re not in a position to talk about it right now,” Paul Marsh, the ACA’s chief executive, told the paper. ”I’ve just received it and I’m working my way through it.”Security fears regarding the IPL intensified after a string of statements warning countries not to send its representatives to major sports events being staged in India, including the IPL. Tim May, the chief executive of FICA, the international players’ union, has warned of a spate of player withdrawals from the IPL due to security concerns over playing in India.May’s statements came on a day the Jaipur police said they had received intelligence inputs of a terrorist threat relating to the one-day international in the city between India and South Africa on Sunday. This followed other reported threats targeting the Commonwealth Games and the Hockey World Cup, both due to be hosted in India this year. Earlier, the Shiv Sena, a right-wing regional political party, had claimed it would not allow Australian cricketers to participate in the competition as a protest against attacks on Indian students in Australia.

Manchester United managed to perform one of the most unconvincing wins of the Premier League season yesterday against Norwich, and whilst three points will be very much welcomed by the fans, there is clearly so much work to do at Old Trafford.

Cristiano Ronaldo managed to win a penalty in the 75th minute of the game that allowed the Red Devils to walk away from Carrow Road with three points, but the performance, in general, was flat and Jamie Redknapp scathed the team for their lack of effort after the game.

He told Sky Sports, via The Daily Mail:

“From United’s point of view, this is what I expect from them at the moment there’s a few problems with the system, set-up, it will take time for the manager to bed in what he wants and it’s going to be a case of giving him weeks or months to do that as a lot of United players have bad habits.”

One player who stuck out in the game is Bruno Fernandes, with a performance the Portuguese star will want to forget.

Pundit, Paul Merson, suggested Fernandes has become a bit of a problem, commenting:

“He’s lost confidence. When you lose confidence it doesn’t matter who you are – we all lose confidence – it’s a different game.

“He’s not touching the ball in the game now, he’s not touching it 60, 70 or 80 times.

“Everything went through Fernandes, everything. It’s not that case now, everyone’s looking for Ronaldo now. This needs to change.”

The £180k-per-week midfielder has flopped this season when you compare it to the season he had last year where he was the stand out star at Man United that lead to the side finishing second in the Premier League.

In the 2020/21 season, Fernandes scored record-breaking achievement for the midfielder, who was expected to emulate this season in the current one with his Portuguese teammate, Ronaldo, joining the side in the summer. Instead, he’s only registered three assists all campaign so far in the league.

Ralf Rangnick is currently setting up with a 4-2-2-2 and it may be wise to axe Fernandes in the upcoming game on Tuesday against Brentford by trying Donny Van De Beek and Jadon Sancho in the two behind the strike force. It would give the Portuguese midfielder either a rest or a realisation that he needs to start picking up his performances.

Fernandes is struggling to find consistency in his game, although he does have 26 times against Norwich on Saturday.

In other news: Magpies ‘make contact’ with Manchester United over Jesse Lingard