League leaders take on the stragglers

Cricinfo previews the match between Chennai Superstars and Mumbai Champs in Panchkula on November 2

01-Nov-2008

Match facts

November 2, 2008
Start time 2.00pm (08:30 GMT)

G Vignesh and Ian Harvey are among the most dangerous opening combinations in the ICL © ICL

Big Picture

The first match of Sunday's double-header in Panchkula is between the Chennai Superstars, the league's leaders, and the Mumbai Champs, who are fighting to avoid the wooden spoon.

A victory against Mumbai will help Chennai take a lead against their closest rivals in the tournament, the Hyderabad Heroes. Both teams are level on eight points but Hyderabad lost to Delhi Giants on Saturday, while Chennai have a game in hand. Chennai, however, haven't played a match since October 24 and will be keen to hit the ground running in their first game at the Tau Devi Lal Stadium.

Their opponents, Mumbai, finally registered their first win in this season by beating Delhi by a comprehensive 58-run margin. That win came immediately after Sandip Patil, the Mumbai coach, stepped down in the "interest of the team". Mumbai have dropped out of the semi-final race but a few strong performances could upset the plans of top-ranked teams.

Where they rank

Chennai are ranked No. 1 with four wins out of five matches and are currently tied with Hyderabad on points. They also have the best net run-rate and are superbly placed to take one of the semi-final berths.

Mumbai, on the other hand, are last in the league, having lost their first five matches before beating Delhi. They have only two points and harbour no hopes of making the final four.

Form guide (most recent match first)

Chennai Superstars: WWLWW
Mumbai Champs: WLLLL

Stats

Chennai batsman Hemang Badani has the highest average in the tournament - 71 - although he's played only two innings for scores of 51 not out and 20.

Ian Harvey, the Chennai allrounder, may have only 105 runs in five innings so far but he's scored them off 57 balls. His strike-rate of 184.21 is the second best in the tournament.

Nathan Astle's bowling skills have surprised many in this tournament. He's bowled 15 overs at an economy-rate of 5.53 and taken five wickets.

Players to watch

Chennai's opening combination of G Vignesh and Ian Harvey. Both of them are aggressive batsmen and their high-octane starts have proved crucial to Chennai's victories. They added 61 in 3.4 overs against the Dhaka Warriors and took 70 off the first four overs against Hyderabad.

Shabbir Ahmed and Nantie Hayward who have 16 wickets between them. Shabbir has taken his eight in four games at 14.62 apiece while Hayward's have come at 16.25.

Dheeraj Jadhav: Mumbai haven't had much to be happy about so far but Jadhav's form has been a bright spot in a poor campaign. He scored two half-centuries - 57 against Lahore, and a match-winning 59 against Delhi.

India ICL 20-20 Indian Championship