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Mohali: Two straight losses in as many games in the Indian Premier League T20 tournament has put the Mohali team - Kings XI Punjab - on the back foot. The side need real heroics for their next match against the Mumbai Indians to be played at the Punjab Cricket Association (PCA) stadium today.
For the Mohali team and particularly their captain Yuvraj Singh, it will be an uphill task to contain the Mumbai Indians. On home ground, the Mohali team and Yuvraj will have a point to prove.
The Mohali team lost their opener to Mahendra Singh Dhoni-led Chennai Super Kings at this stadium last week. They followed it with another defeat, this time at the hands of the less-fancied Shane Warne-led Rajasthan Royals in Jaipur on Monday.
Despite having a star-studded side with big names like Brett Lee, Kumara Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardane, S. Sreesanth, Piyush Chawla and Irfan Pathan, the Mohali team have failed to deliver in either batting or bowling.
In the first match against the Super Kings, the Mohali bowling faltered - giving away more than 240 runs. In the second outing against the Rajasthan Royals, their batsmen failed to notch up a big score.
"Our team may have lost both their matches, but we are hopeful they will come out well in the remaining encounters," PCA president Inderjit Singh Bindra said.
Yuvraj may be one of the best known players of the T20 format - given his flurry of six sixes in an over in the inaugural T20 World Cup last year - but he will have to prove his mettle as a leader by using the talent available to him.
The fast and bouncy PCA pitches are suited to the pace bowling of the Mohali stars, especially Lee, one of the world's fastest bowlers, and the team should have no issue on this account. It is only that their bowlers and batsmen together have to come good.
Fight for fitness
The Mumbai Indians, who have already encountered one loss to the Bangalore Challengers at Mumbai, will, of course, do their best. Whether their star attraction and captain Sachin Tendulkar is fit enough to play will also decide on how the Mohali team approaches the match. Tendulkar's presence in the playing XI will undoubtedly effect the Mohali team's fortunes a great deal.
This will be one match that the Mohali team owner, Bollywood actress Preity Zinta, will be praying that the Mumbai Indians - the side from her adopted home town - loses.
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