Mumbai and Chennai's powerplay blues

The IPL eliminator match in Bangalore will be between two teams which have struggled in the first six overs - one with the bat, the other with the ball. Before the last game of their round-robin fixtures, when Sachin Tendulkar and Dwayne Smith added 163 unbeaten runs, Mumbai Indians' openers had put together 311 runs in 15 innings, at a run rate of 5.92 per over. Most of the time their batsmen haven't scored too many runs in the Powerplay overs, which is reflected in their stats in the table below: Mumbai Indians have scored at a rate of 6.34 in the first six overs, which is more than one run lower than the corresponding run rate for Chennai Super Kings.

However, Super Kings have struggled with the ball in the first six overs, taking only 17 wickets, the least among all teams in the round-robin stage of the IPL. They've conceded almost 40 runs per wicket, which is about ten runs poorer than Mumbai Indians' average. Ben Hilfenhaus has been an invaluable addition to their side because of the difference he has made with the new ball, taking six wickets during the Powerplay overs at an average of 13.33 and an economy rate of 5.00, but the others have struggled to take wickets in the first six: Doug Bollinger has one wicket at an average of 114, while Albie Morkel and R Ashwin have three each at averages of 60 and 49.

As a batting unit, Mumbai Indians' strength has been their display in the middle overs (7th to 15th overs), an aspect which has been Super Kings' weakness. Rohit Sharma (203 runs in 167 balls) and Ambati Rayudu (189 in 154) have been mainstays for Mumbai Indians during the middle overs. Suresh Raina has scored more runs than either of those two batsmen in the middle overs (217 in 171), but he has been dismissed ten times in the process. On the other hand, Rohit and Rayudu have together been dismissed ten times while scoring 392 runs in the middle overs.