Hopeful Mumbai Indians play for more than pride

MOHALI: Kings XI Punjab have never had it so good. Despite not having played any game at their home venue, PCA Stadium, they are set to finish in top two, thus giving them a good chance of making the final of the IPL for the first time.
Their skipper George Bailey, however, does not want to look that far and plans to take one game at a time.
Coming to Mohali for the first time this season, KXIP could not have hoped to be in a better position.They need just one more win to finish among the top two teams so that they are assured of two chances to make the final.
In case they lose in the First Qualifier between the top two teams, they will then get a second bite at the cherry by taking on the winner of the Eliminator in the Second Qualifier.
To add to their stupendous form, two of their last three matches at home are against teams languishing at the bottom of the table.
First up on Wednesday night are the desperate Mumbai Indians, who have had one of their most forgettable seasons and have only a mathematical chance of making the playoffs.
The other lowly team is bottom-placed Delhi Daredevils who have nothing at stake but their pride. In between on Friday, KXIP run into Rajasthan Royals, who are themselves strong contenders to take one of the four playoff berths this season.
Having won all their five matches in UAE, KXIP would like to finish the league engagements with a sweep of all three matches in Mohali before heading for the playoffs.
Their opponents on the morrow, Mumbai Indians are in a desperate situation and cannot afford even a single setback. They require winning their last three games and hoping that the other results go in their favour in order to make the top four.
With the team having found some sort of form, their skipper Rohit Sharma still fancies his team's chances.
"It's not over till it's finally over. We need to keep our chins and confidence up and try to win our games. The rest we leave to fate," Sharma said as the team prepared to contain a team which has taken the IPL by storm this season.
MI bowling attack without Lasith Malinga, will find it difficult to keep the strong KXIP batting line-up in check on their home pitch.
The venue boasts of a fast, bouncy pitch on which batsmen are bound to flourish.
Luckily MI too have a few batsmen who can change the fortune of the match single-handedly. They would be hoping that the likes of Lendl Simmons, Sharma and Kieron Pollard can nullify KXIP's superiority.
KXIP played their first 10 matches with the same set of foreign players, Glenn Maxwell, David Miller, captain Bailey and Aussie pacer Mitchell Johnson, before giving a chance to South African Beuran Hendricks in the last match in Delhi.
The combination has been so successful that it has kept a player of the calibre of Shaun Marsh on the bench.
But having assured a top-four finish, it is time to give him and some other players a chance so that the team is not caught napping in the playoffs in case of injuries or sudden loss of form.
Marsh would have been in playing XI of most of the other IPL teams, but has been a mere spectator in this setup.
Marsh may a look-in in one of the matches before the team leaves for the payoffs As for Mumbai Indians, they would like to end their campaign by winning their remaining games and if on the way they can trap the Kings in their own fortress that would give them immense pleasure and help them regain some pride before they say bye to one of their most forgetful seasons.