Mumbai Indians coach John Wright is hoping the younger players in his squad can step up and make a name for themselves over the next six weeks to ensure the side retain their IPL crown.
The 2013 IPL champions kick off this year’s tournament as they take on 2012 winners Kolkata Knight Riders at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi tonight.
Mumbai have won four of the last five meetings between the two sides but their squad for the 2014 competition is different to the one that lifted the trophy last time out, with Sachin Tendulkar no longer playing and Dwayne Smith and Dinesh Karthik departed.
Wright does still have the likes of Kieron Pollard, Mike Hussey, Lasith Malinga and Rohit Sharma at his disposal but he is keen for one of his less experienced charges to come to the fore.
Jalaj Saxena and Apoorv Wankhade are two players looking to force their way into the batting line-up.
“There are three or four young players and there is a spot to play for and that is an opportunity,” the coach said.
“It is their time. It is the greatest thing about IPL that it creates an opportunity for someone to come and become very well known in a very short space of time. Let us hope we have the right youngsters who seize that opportunity.”
Despite ultimately winning the tournament last year, the Indians got off to a bad start, losing by just two runs to Royal Challengers Bangalore.
They obviously recovered well to take the title, something that Wright is confident they could do again, although he would rather gain some positive momentum early on.
“Everyone wants a wining start and that is the best way to start,” he added.
“Last year we played our first game and did not quite get up against Bangalore. So it is better to look game by game.
“It will be a lot better feeling going into the second game after winnig the first game because there is lot of pressure in this competition as it is quick and we would like to get the momentum going early.
“Every team is going to be scrapping for their first win so it will be good to get a winning start. Having said that, we had the experience of not winning our first game and it puts more pressure on the second match so we are not thinking that way.”
On captain Sharma, Wright added: “I have been very impressed with everything he has done as captain, particularly his tactical decisions because that is the most important thing.”
