Mumbai Indians

Mumbai, with flair and experience, are likely to make amends for the lost chances last year.

When you have two of the greatest cricketers of our generation opening the batting for you, you have every right to be hopeful. And when you have both of them in great form, your hope assumes the form of real confidence. Finally, with a player-coach who knows South African conditions better than any around, Mumbai is one of the favourites going into season two. After a spectacular comeback in season one, Mumbai was plain unlucky in a couple of games losing them by the tiniest of margins. Expectedly, they would love to make amends.

To Mumbai's credit they have a side that has both, flair and experience. In Sachin Tendulkar they have the greatest the world has ever seen. And the kind of form Tendulkar displayed in Kiwiland, bowlers can surely start to have nightmares. Injured for much of IPL one, Tendulkar will be hungry come IPL two and is expected to give Mumbai the blistering start they are looking for. If Tendulkar isn't enough to deal with, Sanath Jayasuriya is waiting to greet the bowlers at the other end. Jayasuriya, recent evidence suggests, is still one of the hardest hitters of the cricket ball and can clear the rope with amazing regularity.

Lower down the order Mumbai now has in its ranks the talented home boy J.P. Duminy. Duminy, who has taken the cricket world by storm thanks to his heroics against Australia, will do his best to justify his mammoth $950,000 price.

Even if the batting fails, which isn't likely, Mumbai has a bowling line up capable of winning them a low scoring contest. In Zaheer Khan, they have a bowler who is at the height of his powers. Capable of swinging the ball both ways, Zaheer, also injured in IPL one will do everything to set the records straight. Shaun Pollock, despite having retired, has hardly lost the accuracy that made him one of the most miserly bowlers in world cricket and in Harbhajan Singh Mumbai has one of the best bowlers of the T-20 format. Harbhajan, who had a miserable IPL last year thanks to his slapping of Sreesanth, which resulted in a 10-match ban, is keenly awaiting the competition this time round to leave his imprint on it. It was largely owing to his efforts that India won the T-20 world cup in South Africa and his bowling, both at the death and also in the middle, will give the Mumbai team the edge it lacked in 2008.