Mumbai hold the edge over Chennai in eliminator

In the movie Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara, one of its lead characters insists that everything in life is written beforehand. With Chennai having made the playoffs, the statement rings true somewhat. It is ironical hence that the defending champions meet Mumbai, which is home to Bollywood, in the Eliminator at the Chinnaswamy Stadium on Wednesday night. Seemingly down and out when Bangalore looked all set to crush Hyderabad on Sunday and set up their home date with Mumbai, Mahendra Singh Dhoni's men were suddenly handed a lifeline thanks to a collective display of downright foolish strokemaking by Bangalore's leading players. Now, in a complete turnaround, bookmakers have ranked Chennai as clear favourites against Mumbai and who knows a third successive title too may be written for them. Whatever the script, Mumbai have a triple-edge over their rivals. Twice this season they have beaten Chennai, away in the tournament opener and at home when Dwayne Smith played an unbelievable cameo over the final three deliveries of the match to pull off a most unexpected win. Thirdly, Mumbai have played one match at the Chinnaswamy Stadium during the league phase just a little over a week ago and tasted victory while Chennai's away game against Bangalore was washed out without a ball being bowled. This though is the eliminator, a virtual quarterfinal, and in a season where the quality of cricket overall has been poor - a fact masked by many last-over, last-ball finishes - the team that ends up making fewer mistakes will prevail. Both Mumbai and Chennai, with the kind of talent at their disposal, filled as they are with the right mix of international and national stars, should have done far better. But, strangely, both teams have mostly struggled, playing indifferent cricket which, had the overall quality of the game been better, would have seen them exit the tournament long before the eliminator. Big boys though are known to join the party late. Hence, the potential for Bangaloreans and the respective teams' supporters to witness a cracker cannot be undermined. With the likes of Kieron Pollard and Albie Morkel around, their finishing abilities with the bat being proven, no total may be defendable even as bowlers such as Lasith Malinga and R Ashwin are capable of making any total look adequate. Seen in that light, it would mean that either captain, Chennai's Dhoni or Mumbai's Harbhajan Singh, will be confused at the toss. Normally runs on the board is the done thing in a pressure game but then neither team is a normal one, even if their performances until now have been ordinary for a large part. So the call at the toss will be tricky. Brace yourselves then for a contest that just cannot be prejudged or predicted. What has been written beforehand, if indeed such things happen, is not in the teams' control or anyone else' for that matter, so let's not worry about that.