By IANS,
Port Elizabeth : Last year’s runners-up Chennai Super Kings will hope to book their semi-final berth when they face Mumbai Indians in the Indian Premier League (IPL) at the Sahara Oval here Saturday.
With three games in hand, a win against Mumbai Indians will ensure second-placed Super Kings’ a berth in the final four. Super Kings will also be looking to take revenge for their loss in the previous encounter against Mumbai Indians.
Mumbai Indians have dimmed their own chances after their two-run loss to defending champions Rajasthan Royals Thursday night. Mumbai Indians have to win their remaining two matches by a big margin and will also have to wait for the outcome of other matches.
Super Kings, whose five-match winning streak was halted by Royal Challengers Bangalore Thursday, will be charged up to get back to winning ways.
Super Kings’ skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni feels that the tournament is still wide open and any team can make the semi-finals.
“I think it is great for the tournament that there are just two or three games left for each team and still the semi-final line-up is not confirmed. The tournament is still open and no team other then Delhi is looking a safe bet for the round of final four. I think it is the ideal scenario. I think every team wants to secure a berth for the semis as early as possible but that really reflects that all the teams are playing well,” said Dhoni.
Dhoni pinned hopes on his top-order batsmen to come good against a strong Mumbai Indians bowling unit.
“We have good in-form batsmen upfront. Matthew Hayden, Suresh Raina and Subramaniam Badrinath are doing well,” he said.
Mumbai Indians will expect its batsmen to play responsibly against Super Kings. Mumbai Indians’ batsmen panicked under pressure against Rajasthan Royals and the middle-order collapsed.
Mumbai Indians’ chief mentor Shaun Pollock said: “One needs to play these close games in such pressure situations and finish them off. We haven’t managed to do that on a couple of occasions. We are not out of the IPL and we believe we have got two more games and have a chance to qualify.”
Pollock said that it will be a tough task for Mumbai Indians to get valuable 15 points to qualify for the semis.
“We have got big teams to play. We have got Chennai Super Kings and Delhi Daredevils who are on the top. It will not be easy and it is a big task for us. We need to help ourselves and we will do it in the next two matches. We need to get those 15 points to see us through,” he said.