The Mumbai Indians will begin their quest to defend the Champions League Twenty20 by taking on Lahore Lions in their opening game of the Qualifier stage at the Shaheed Veer Narayan Singh Stadium in Raipur on Saturday, September 13.

With teams from India and Pakistan squared off against each other, that too in a new cricket venue like Raipur, obviously the Chhattisgarh cricket fans will experience a first high-tension match. Naturally, the Mumbai Indians will continue to enjoy the support of the spectators. But, rather than thinking about the clash against a team from across the border, the Mumbai Indians will be focused on the bigger goal.

In a three-week tournament like CLT20, it is imperative for a team to get off to a good start. And the Mumbai Indians, who took time before getting their act together in the Indian Premier League’s seventh edition earlier in the year, would be hoping to get into their groove straightaway.

The Mumbai Indians would be keen to get the balance of the eleven right from the start, something that they struggled with in the early part of the IPL. However, with Kieron Pollard having taken charge as captain after Rohit Sharma was ruled out due to fitness issues, the MI think-tank is almost certain of their starting line-up.

In Rohit’s absence, Mumbai Indians would be looking forward to their other key players to up their standards and make up for their regular captain’s absence. Even head coach John Wright hoped that the big players come good, right from the word go.

“At this stage, we can’t single anyone out. We want to get early wickets and want to get off a good start with the bat. You do feel the absence of the big players for a big tournament like this but it is an opportunity for other players. One or two of our players in the squad haven’t had much game time with the franchise over the last two years. So we are expecting them (bi players) to step up, and obviously we would like our big players to lead by example,” Wright had said during the team’s first media interaction after arriving in Raipur a couple of days ago.

Wright and Co will be looking forward to Pollard, Corey Anderson, Lendl Simmons, Harbhajan Singh and Ambati Rayudu to fire on all cylinders against the Lahore Lions. If they can do that, they will not only restrict the formidable Lions but also give Mumbai Indians a crucial win in the Qualifiers.

With the presence of Mohammad Hafeez, Ahmed Shehzad, Umar Akmal and Wahab Riaz, the Lions are a balanced unit. And the Lions have arrived in India with a hope to become the first team from Pakistan to cross the Qualifiers’ hurdle and make it to the main draw.

More than defending their 2013 title, the Mumbai Indians, on the other hand, are concentrating on taking one game at a time. If they can come up with a clean performance against the Lions, it would be a fitting start to their 2014 CLT20 campaign.

Over to Raipur!