Daijiworld Media Network

Vizag, Apr 9: Deccan vs Mumbai - underdogs vs favourites. Deccan have played 1 game - against Chennai - and lost that by a big margin. Mumbai have played 2, winning and losing one game each. Mumbai have been hit hard by an injury to its star player Sachin Tendulkar, while Deccan have been reinforced by the return of Kumar Sangakkara. But despite the loss in the previous game and the absence of Sachin, it is Mumbai who go into the game as clear favourites. Deccan look a weak side on paper this season, and will need an inspirational performance from it's foreign imports if they are to overcome giants like Mumbai.

Deccan have won the toss and elected to bat
 
Sangakkara: It's a great atmosphere. There isn't much difference if I'm captain or not, we try and play good cricket. Nothing changes, we have to look to have fun and play our best cricket. Harris goes out. He batted well in the warm up games but he has to sit out. Gony goes out, Anand Rajan comes in.

Harbhajan: It has been a mixed experience in the last 2 games. We are looking forward to giving a good shot today and win the game. It's too early to say what I've learnt about captaincy. We must learn from the last game and we should make sure that we don't lose wickets at the top. Sachin is still injured, he should be fine for the next match. I would have batted too. The wicket is nice and good to bat on. Suman comes in for Suryakumar Yadav. We'll try and restrict them to 150 or so.

Ojha: The tournament has started well and we're confident. Looking forward to this game, every game is very important for us. It's a different feeling because I've played for Deccan in the previous seasons. I've played all my cricket for Deccan in Deccan, so it's a special feeling. But I'm a professional cricket and have to do well for Bombay now. Right from U-16 I've played in this stadium so I know how the pitch will do.

Teams:

Deccan (Playing XI): Shikhar Dhawan, Parthiv Patel, Kumar Sangakkara(w/c), Cameron White, Bharat Chipli, Daniel Christian, Dwaraka Ravi Teja, Anand Rajan, Ankit Sharma, Dale Steyn, TP Sudhindra

Mumbai (Playing XI): Richard Levi, Tirumalsetti Suman, Rohit Sharma, Ambati Rayudu, James Franklin, Dinesh Karthik(w), Kieron Pollard, Harbhajan Singh(c), Lasith Malinga, Munaf Patel, Pragyan Ojha