14 September,2010 08:47 AM IST | | IQBAL KHAN
Worry about your own game -- that was the message from Jonty Rhodes yesterday as the Mumbai Indians wrapped up their preparations for their second Champions League T20 game against the South Australian Redbacks at Kingsmead today.u00a0
"If we are to progress, we will need to play solid cricket from ball No 1 to the very end. We may have lost the opening game but we have rallied around every player and will be looking forward to win this one tonight," he said. "We are not at all worried of our prospect to progressing further in the tournament.
We had our worst game -- against the Highveld Lions -- we've put that behind us now and look forward to something better against the Redbacks and build on that," he added.Rhodes admitted everyone in the Mumbai camp was disheartened after losing the opening match and all have vowed to turn it around.
TWO to TANGO: Kieron Pollard (left) and Saurabh Tiwary will be the keys
for Mumbai Indians today
"We have the players in the batting and bowling departments to do it and if the fielders can come to the party we would see a vastly improved MumbaiIndians display."
The legendary South African, who took the world by storm with his electrifying fielding displays in the 1992 World Cup in Australasia, put the Mumbai Indians through one of their toughest fielding sessions since arriving here 10 days ago."We worked hard. I drove them in order to sharpen their skills and I believe they are ready," he said.
Reds confident
Now they will need to go out and produce the best fielding -- something they have done very well at in the past." Meanwhile, the Redbacks, fresh from their stunning 11-ruin win over the Lions at Centurion on Sunday, arrived in Durban late yesterday confident of inflicting another defeat on the Mumbai Indians.
Their target is to get Sachin Tendulkar early. Their weapon to do this job is expected to be Shaun Tait. They said they want to strangle the Mumbai batting and they have alongside Tait, the likes of Daniel Christian to tie the Indian batsman down.
but what the Redbacks have not factored in is the fact that the Mumbai Indians have two explosive batsmen who can turn the game on its head for Tendulkar's side -- West Indian Kieron Pollard and Saurabh Tiwary.
That battle may be upfront with Tait and Tendulkar but when it comes to the war in the trenches Pollard and Tiwary have always proved to be key factors for the Mumbai Indians.With today's game so crucial for the Mumbai Indians it will be no different.
The Pollard and Tiwary factor will be the decisive one -- especially after the Mumbai Indians stumbled last Friday.
