Mumbai Indians play Lions in the first match of the Champions League T20 at the Wanderers Stadium in Johannesburg. The Mumbai-Lions match will be shown live on Star Cricket in India on September 10, from 9 pm IST (1530 hours GMT). You can also watch the live streaming of the Mumbai-Lions Champions League T20 match on the official ESPN-Star website.
Mumbai will be led by Sachin Tendulkar, who had earlier guided the side to the finals of the Indian Premier League. Tendulkar’s injury hampered his preparations for the finals of the tournament, and that was one of the reasons why the Mumbai Indians were knocked out in the final.
However, that was enough to take them to the Champions League T20, where the Mumbai Indians are placed in the Group B and will take on the Lions. (To check the full schedule of the Champions League 2010, click here)
Lions will go into the game knowing that they do not possess a team to take notice of. However, that could well work in their favour as the Mumbai Indians will be more worried about the conditions in South Africa than the opposition itself.
The South African side will be led by inexperienced international, Alviro Petersen, but their best batsman will be Zander de Bruyn. De Bruyn has played international cricket for South Africa, but his more famous exploits have come for Somerset in the T20 Cup in England. He had recently slammed a century for Somerset in a fifty overs game against Pakistan as well.
As compared to that, the Mumbai Indians posses a much stronger batting line-up. Apart from Tendulkar, there is the presence of Saurabh Tiwary and Somerset’s other hard-hitting batsman, Kieron Pollard and the likes of JP Duminy and Ambati Raidu. The bowling is in the able hands of Zaheer Khan and Harbhajan Singh, with the presence of Lasith Malinga added the necessary pace.
Mumbai will be favourites to start their campaign on a winning note, but it must be said that the home advantage in a tournament like this will prove to be a big one.
You can follow the live score of the Mumbai v Lions Champions League T20 match here. You can also watch the line streaming of the Mumbai v Lions Champions League T20 game on ESPNStar.com.
