Mumbai Indians V/s Chennai Super Kings

They are easily the biggest icons of Indian cricket. If one has been the inspirational leader, the other has been the supreme performer, and the two have taken Team India from strength to strength over the past couple of years.

And Mahendra Singh Dhoni would be the first to acknowledge that his success as Team India captain has had a lot to do with Tendulkar's performances.

Now Dhoni, leading Team Chennai, has to face the wrath of the Little Master, when they take on Mumbai Indians in the opener of IPL 2 in the far-off shores of the Atlantic -- the picturesque Newlands in Cape Town.

What makes it all the more interesting is the fact that Tendulkar has already announced that he won't play international T20 cricket while Dhoni had proved himself as a skipper for the first time in South Africa two years back, leading India to the World T20 triumph.

T20 is easily Dhoni's bastion and if Tendulkar can inspire his team to a win against Team Chennai, the Little Master can afford a quiet smile of satisfaction.

And Tendulkar has got all the ammunition in the world to turn the heat on last year's runners-up. A supreme opening partner in Sanath Jayasuriya, a solid middle-order led by the stylish South African batsman JP Duminy, and a decent pace-attack led by the in-form Zaheer Khan. All that has created a buzz around the Mumbai Indians.

It's likely that allrounder Dwayne Bravo and medium-pacer Kyle Mills will fill up the other two foreigner's slot in the Mumbai outfit.

But if Mumbai are blessed with balance, so are Team Chennai. Matthew Hayden's retirement from international cricket has come as a big boon for Dhoni's men and the burly Aussie has to play a huge role at the top of the order if Chennai are to do well in South African conditions.

Hayden knows all about playing on these tracks and it's pretty obvious that the Chennai top-order will look to play around him.

Another trump-card for Dhoni is Andrew Flintoff, provided he is 100 per cent fit. The England allrounder is available only for a couple of weeks and Chennai will expect to get the best out of him in this period.

Flintoff, of course, will be backed by another superb all-rounder in Albie Morkel, who is in great touch at the moment.

The duo will lead the Chennai bowling attack as well, but it'll be interesting to see how well they're backed up by the likes of Lakshmipathy Balaji and MS Gony.

Dhoni also has the guile of Muttiah Muralitharan to fall back upon, but it's to be seen whether he is able to work his magic in the shortest format of the game in South African conditions.

Wax Statue of Sachin Tendulkar

Wax Statue of Sachin Tendulkar

Not a stranger to honours and accolades, Master Blaster Batsman Sachin Tendulkar on Monday said his wax statue adorning the iconic Madame Tussauds in London would be both an appreciation and reflection of his contribution to Indian cricket. "It is a great honor to be there at the Tussauds. I know I am the first sportsperson of the country to be there. I think it is an appreciation and a reflection of my contribution to Indian cricket," he said after unveiling the statue.

Sachin Tendulkar said he was spellbound after seeing the statue which will be inaugurated at the Tussauds on April 24, his birthday. "I am not a person who normally reacts easily to anything. But when I and my family saw it, something identical to myself, my reaction was something different. I have not reacted like that before, my reaction was special. It was so real, it was fantastic. But I am glad it does not breathe. "(My son) Arjun wanted to take down the bat and start playing but I told him not to get very close," he said.

Asked next to whom he would want his wax statue to be placed at the Tussauds, Tendulkar said, "I don't mind to be next to anybody. The fact that it will be there itself was a great honor. There are so many great personalities there including Indians," he said.

Asked if he felt authorities at Tussauds should have done it earlier, Tendulkar said, "I am not the person to decide whether my statue should have been one or two year before or this year. I am not concerned about that. I am happy that I will be there now. It is a happy moment." Tendulkar said he will go to London after the Indian Premier League season two in South Africa and see for himself his wax statue at the Tussauds.

"Right from 15 years of age I have thought of going to the Tussauds and even during my stay in England to play cricket I did not have time to go there because of my schedule. This time I will be there to know how these wax statues are made of," he said. Tendulkar has achieved almost everything as a cricketer could dream of except for one -- to win the World Cup for the country. "Every cricketer has a dream. For me I want to win the World Cup for the country that is my dream."

McGrath doubts at Buchanan's multiple captain Theory


Legendary Australian pacer and current Delhi Daredevils spearhead Glenn McGrath on Monday scoffed at John Buchanan's multiple captain theory while endorsing the importance of a single skipper. "I have played under Buchanan and I know he has a lot of theories, may be this is another one. I don't know why he (Buchanan) has come up with this idea. I like a single captain idea.

"A good captain is one who uses his experience and takes the inputs and suggestions from other younger players of his team as well. But at the end of the day he should be the leader and accountable for his decisions," McGrath said on the sidelines of a programme to mark the team's send-off to South Africa. Former Australia World Cup winning Coach Buchanan, who is now manager of Kolkata Knight Riders, had suggested the multiple captain theory for the IPL second season, ruffling a few feathers including that of India great Sunil Gavaskar and former skipper Sourav Ganguly.

Talking about the challenges of the second edition of IPL, McGrath said conditions in South Africa would be similar to Australia and hoped to acclimatize soon. "I did enjoy the fan support and playing in Delhi last year but if I just think about the conditions, I feel it would be bouncy and quick, somewhat similar to what we have in Australia. I feel we can adjust to the conditions quite quickly," McGrath said. He said it was a tough decision for him to play in the second edition of IPL considering he has to take care of his children after losing wife Jane last year.

"It was a tough decision for me to play in the IPL. I have to take care of my kids, now that Jane is no more with us. But I enjoyed playing IPL last year and this is something special which I wanted to do for myself. "I didn't play cricket for the last 10 months but I hit the gym and worked out regularly. We had a 12 days training here and I hope to continue to build that up in the next few weeks bowling in South Africa, so that I can be at the top of my game before the season kicks off," he said.

The 39-year-old McGrath, who emerged as the most economical (6.61) bowler for his team last season, reckoned India vice-captain and Delhi Daredevils skipper Virender Sehwag as one of the most destructive batsman he has ever bowled to and rated him highly as a captain. "I have always enjoyed bowling to Sehwag. As a skipper also I rate him highly, I have played under him and I hope this time we help him to win the cup," he said. The lanky McGrath also threw his weight behind Brett Lee. "Brett is very experienced and a class bowler and he has put a lot of hard work in this last few months and has grown much stronger," he said.

McGrath also feels IPL has lifted the Twenty20 version of the game. "Twenty20 is such a version where one can't afford to make any mistake, as a bowler you can't bowl 2-3 bad overs and I feel IPL has lifted the game as a whole," he said. Meanwhile, explosive Australian batsman David Warner, who would make his IPL debut this year, said he would like to show India's Virender Sehwag some pyrotechnics of his own if given a chance to open with the Delhi dasher. "I know it is up to the selectors to decide where I should bat and I can bat at any position. I don't have the experience like Sehwag and Gautam Gambir but if I am given a chance to open with Sehwag, I would like to show him some of my shots out of the park," he said.

Warner said his aim would be to win the title and bring it to Delhi. "Last year Delhi made it to the semi-final, so this time I would like to put it on board in the final and win the cup," Warner said. India discards Ashish Nehra, who switched loyalty from Mumbai Indians to Delhi Daredevils, said the domestic experience would help him to perform well this year. "Last year it was a good experience playing for Mumbai Indians. This year I have played a lot in the domestic circuit for Delhi and I hope this will help me perform better," he said.

SRK slams Gavaskar for criticizing Buchanan

Kolkata Knight Riders owner ShahRukh Khan took a dig at former India captain Sunil Gavaskar for ridiculing John Buchanan's multiple-captain theory saying he bought the team and would run it the way he wants.

Former Australia World Cup winning coach Buchanan, who is now manager of Kolkata Knight Riders, had suggested the four captain theory for the second season of the Indian Premier League that has ruffled a few feathers, including that of former India skipper Sourav Ganguly.

"I have great respect for Mr. Gavaskar. I have grown up enjoying his performance as well as KR Vishwanath and Kapil's. We all respect him too much but having said that I would like to say that please give it (the multiple-captain theory) a breathing space to try now. If we fail we can always go back to the traditional way," ShahRukh said at a media conference in Mumbai on Sunday to announce new initiatives with Team sponsors Nokia. The Bollywood star said he has spent a lot of money in buying the team and would like to run it as he deems fit. "I have spent lot of money on my team. If you have a problem then you buy your own team and run it the way you want," he said, in an obvious response to Gavaskar's comments.

India's batting legend Gavaskar, in a newspaper column, had criticized Buchanan's theory saying too much importance is being accorded to the Australian, who is a failed first-class cricketer and is only trying to get lucrative jobs for "his Queensland pals". "To comment on his multiple skipper theory is to give it the importance it doesn't deserve but what does require comment is how he has got his Queensland pals lucrative jobs with KKR.”They have a very big support staff which includes his son and most of them are from Queensland. The owners - poor souls - have little idea that they are being milked," Gavaskar had written. ShahRukh, meanwhile, said he would rather try the multiple captain idea and fail than not giving it a chance at all.

"Twenty20 cricket is a new format and last time we did not do well after going by the traditional way (one captain). This time Buchanan will try multiple captaincies in the practice game before the IPL starts in South Africa and see whether he succeeds or not," the Bollywood star said. Buchanan's concept has generated lot of controversy ahead of the April 18 to May 24 IPL to be held in eight cities of South Africa.

Sourav Ganguly, who led the team last year, had expressed resentment to the multiple captain idea. The former India captain and Buchanan have had lengthy discussions with ShahRukh at his residence to thrash out the issues. ShahRukh on Sunday pointed out that the concept had been tried out last year itself by Kings XI Punjab. "It was tried out last year itself by the Mohali team which had a fielding captain (Kumar Sangakkara), a batting captain, a bowling captain and an overall captain Yuvraj Singh," he said.

The Bollywood star gave the example of cricket's cousin baseball which has coaches giving instructions from outside the field to the pitchers, batters and others. ShahRukh also expressed hope that his team would perform much better than last year. "All our players like Chris Gayle, Brendon McCullum, Sourav Ganguly, Brad Hodge, Ajantha Mendis, Ishant Sharma, Mashrafe Mortaza are available," he said. "Almost 97 to 98 per cent of the players are available and it's a strong line-up. I hope the team performs better than last year," ShahRukh said.

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