Mumbais home and away game

For Adam Gilchrist and his Deccan Chargers,their previous two trips to the DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai have had interesting settings and contrasting outcomes....

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For Adam Gilchrist and his Deccan Chargers,their previous two trips to the DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai have had interesting settings and contrasting outcomes. The Hyderabad outfit had zero points in their kitty when they arrived here to face Mumbai in the inaugural edition of the IPL,and it was Gilchrist who opened the account for them with a breathtaking 47-ball 109. Deccan were defending champions when they played their next match at here the opening game of IPL III- but succumbed to a disappointing loss against the Kolkata Knight Riders,a team who had finished last in the previous season.

Though Deccan did redeem themselves with three wins on the trot after that match,they ran into a rampaging Yusuf Pathan and a resurgent Rajasthan Royals in Ahmedabad on Friday night. And there is likely to be no respite for the hapless Hyderabad bowlers,as they return to one of their many adopted homes this season. The reason: they face a powerful batting line-up,led by an in-form Sachin Tendulkar,who has raked up two consecutive half-centuries and is the second highest run-getter in the tournament so far.

For Mumbai,while Tendulkar has led the way with the bat,Harbhajan Singh,has been a deterring factor for most of the opposition batsmen,especially in the last two games where he scalped the likes of Chris Gayle and Matthew Hayden. And the 29-year-old off-spinner reveals that Mumbai Indians prerogative now was to become the first team to enter the semi-finals. This is like a home game and we would like to win this game,go up to 10 points and we have got another two games at home. There will be a lot of support for us and we are looking forward to it. We dont want to leave any thing for the latter part of the tournament this time around, says Harbhajan.

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The main worry for the Deccan Chargers so far has been the inconsistency of their batsmen and the over-dependence on Chaminda Vaas with the ball. Though blessed with a number of riches in their batting line-up,the likes of Gilchrist,Andrew Symonds,Herschelle Gibbs and Rohit Sharma have only shone briefly in IPL III.

While Mumbai had found themselves in a similar position in the first two seasons,the Tendulkar-led outfit,who will welcome back Ambati Rayudu,have had different players putting their hands up this time around. And Harbhajan insists that his team have learnt from their earlier mistakes.

In the last two editions,we were almost there. But now everyone is taking up the responsibility,doing the job,and not keeping it for others, says Harbhajan.