Can Mumbai reduce Gayle to a sideshow?

In the circus that is IPL 2011, Mumbai Indians have been the trampoline artistes. They soared through the first half of the season, putting more than daylight between themselves and the rest. Then they lost steam, and began hurtling towards terra firma. At one point they even had to deal with the possibility of missing the play-offs but, almost inevitably, they bounced back with two nerve-shredding wins against Kolkata Knight Riders.

"Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, children of all ages ... fasten your seat-belts for another show" 

Trampoline acts are fine, but can get repetitive after a while. Meanwhile, Royal Challengers Bangalore have provided real entertainment in their corner of the circus, led by the ringmaster Chris Gayle. He has done everything for them - he has twirled his whip to tame the wildest bowling attacks, and he has juggled batting and bowling duties without breaking a sweat, all without losing the inimitable strut and swagger that are part of his persona. He has rarely failed to entertain this season, and Chepauk will love to be regaled one final time on Friday evening. If Gayle's still in town on Saturday, though, they won't be rooting for him. Chennai Super Kings are already in the final, and will have the crowd behind them for the big game.

This virtual semi-final can best be seen through the prism of various mini-battles that will make up the contest: the battle of the tenses - the present, Tendulkar v the future, Kohli; the battle of the storms - Gayle v Blizzard; and the battle of the coloured caps - Gayle v Malinga. On a flat track, and in humid conditions that could herald a dewy night, the battle that matters most could be when the coin is spun.

Form guide (most recent first)

Royal Challengers Bangalore: LWLWW
Mumbai Indians: WWLLL

Team talk

Mumbai, like the rest of us, will be surprised by the fact that James Franklin has been their batting saviour for two games on the trot. Aiden Blizzard's form is good news, but the continued struggle in the middle order isn't. Kieron Pollard's strongest suit seems to be his fielding, and Mumbai should mull bringing in Andrew Symonds for him.

The silver lining in Bangalore's defeat in the first play-off was the manner in which their batting stood up after Gayle's early exit. Still, questions need to be asked about the role of Saurabh Tiwary and Mohammad Kaif in the lower middle order.

Predict the playing XIs for this match. Play ESPNcricinfo Team Selector.

In the spotlight

In Bangalore's previous game, a television commentator requested Virat Kohli to smile more often than he swears and frowns. Kohli promised to do so, but less than an hour later he was back to his swearing best, when a fielder fumbled off his bowling. Regardless of his demeanour, Kohli's batting has put a smile on his fans' faces in the last couple of years. Bangalore coach Ray Jennings says being passionate and fiery is an innate part of Kohli's personality, and that should not be meddled with. Yet, tantrums don't sit well with someone touted as a future India captain.

Like Kohli, Rohit Sharma is another upcoming batsman whose attitude has come under more scrutiny than his ability. If temper is Kohli's problem, Rohit's is temperament. Rohit's woes were best captured by his shocking run-out in the eliminator against Kolkata. In moments such as those, it is tough to believe that Rohit is completely switched on at all times when he is on the field. He will be watched closely in the remainder of the IPL, and when he gets his opportunity in the West Indies.

Prime numbers

• Franklin, Blizzard and Harbhajan Singh have better strike-rates than the more celebrated batsmen in the Mumbai line-up - Sachin Tendulkar, Ambati Rayudu, Rohit, Pollard and Symonds
  
• Tendulkar has hit more fours (60) than anyone else this season. Kohli is third on the list with 54.
  
• Gayle has smashed 39 sixes so far this season, well ahead of MS Dhoni, who is second with 21
• The chatter
  
  
  "Ambati Rayudu is a youngster and you let him react the way he does. He will mature. You just let him be. Harbhajan Singh has also always been aggressive. We have had characters in tennis like McEnroe ... We need characters like that in cricket."
  Sachin Tendulkar might not be a fiery character on a cricket field, but he sure likes to see some fire.

More to corruption in cricket than we know - Strauss

England Test captain Andrew Strauss has said while there is "more to" corruption in cricket "than we know about", he had not seen "any resolve" in dealing with the problem and that people in charge of tackling the issue are "woefully under-resourced". England's last Test series at home, against Pakistan, was marred by the spot-fixing controversy and Strauss believed not enough was being done to eliminate corruption in the game.

Andrew Strauss feels there isn't much being done to eliminate corruption in cricket

"Clearly most of the betting seems to go on in the sub-continent but I wouldn't say it was just sub-continental players that are involved," Strauss told theLondon Evening Standard. "My gut feeling is there is more to it than we know about.

"It is a very difficult thing to deal with but I don't think that's an excuse not to try to deal with it. I haven't seen any resolve to deal with the issue. It is hard for me to comment because I don't know what's going on behind closed doors.

"The only input I've had is with the anti-corruption people who came round during the World Cup. It seems to me that they are woefully under-resourced. I just don't think they've got the resources to do it properly."

Salman Butt, Mohammad Aamer and Mohammad Asif were banned by the ICC after an independent tribunal found them guilty of orchestrating three pre-planned, deliberate no-balls during the Lord's Test against England last August. Soon after the allegations against the trio surfaced, Ijaz Butt, the PCB chairman, claimed England's players had taken "enormous amounts of money" to lose the third ODI at The Oval. Butt apologisedfor his comments later, but Strauss admitted England nearly pulled out of the next game.

Even though England accepted Butt's apology and withdrew the threat of legal action, Strauss said he had been "quite emotional" about the accusation. "My original view was our integrity had been brought into question. We got quite close to not playing the one-dayer at Lord's. But over the course of the evening it became a lot clearer to me that actually the right thing to do was to play. We didn't feel overjoyed to be playing the game or that series but we got through it."

Strauss said he hoped the spot-fixing controversy would trigger efforts to eliminate corruption in the game, but added, "they certainly don't seem to be getting anywhere nearer to the bottom of the whole spot fixing/match-fixing saga."

Misbah sets sights on finishing the job

Pakistan's captain, Misbah-ul-Haq, is not getting ahead of himself despite his side's powerful position in the second Test against West Indies. Pakistan need only five more wickets to beat West Indies and level the series 1-1, while the hosts require 297 runs for an unlikely victory, or to bat all day to salvage a draw.

"Until the time you've taken the last wicket, the match is still not finished," Misbah said after stumps on the fourth day in St Kitts. "It's a game of cricket and you have to finish the game otherwise it's really half the job done."

Pakistan had Misbah to thank for giving them an excellent chance at victory, after he and Taufeeq Umar both made centuries in the second innings. It was Misbah's third Test hundred and he was unbeaten on 102 when he declared with a lead of 426, a fine effort for a 36-year-old in his sixth Test as captain.

"It's really, really good to have a hundred, especially when you are captain," Misbah said. "For your own confidence and for the sake of the team, it's really important that the captain chips in and perform at all stages in the game."

West Indies made a poor start to their chase, with two of the top four out for ducks, and by stumps they were 130 for 5 and relying heavily on the vice-captain Brendan Nash (30 not out) to salvage something on the final day. Abdur Rehman caused the biggest problems with three wickets, all of which came soon after the tea break and shattered West Indies' hopes of ending the day in a reasonable position.

"At tea, my coach [Waqar Younis] and my captain came to me and said, 'Go back there and go back to your normal bowling," Rehman said. "Don't give them flight, just tight, tight, contain and you'll get the wickets'."

To rescue West Indies, Nash will need not only a major innings himself but also help from the lower order, including Carlton Baugh (7 not out) and the next man in, the captain Darren Sammy. West Indies won the first Test in the two-match series.

Samuels 'not totally satisfied' with Test return

Marlon Samuels,

made a promising return to Test cricket with a half-century in his first innings for three years, but he was not satisfied after West Indies struggled against Pakistan's attack. After Pakistan's tail wagged to reach 272, West Indies battled to 184 for 8 at the close of the second day, with Samuels having fallen for 57 late in the afternoon.

Still, there were some good signs for Samuels, who has completed a two-year ban for his alleged involvement with illegal bookmakers. He struck seven fours and two sixes and top scored in an innings where no other player had so far reached 25.

"This was my first innings on my return to Test cricket and I conditioned my mind to play a long innings for the team," Samuels said. "It was a good feeling to go out there and play the way I did for the team but I'm not totally satisfied. I have been getting big runs since I came back into first-class cricket for Jamaica and I was looking to carry on and go all the way today.

"I was hitting the ball very well. I came into this match with a lot of runs behind me and my confidence is high. Right now in my life, my form is a state of mind. I don't think my form will leave me at this moment and I am just stroking the ball the way I like and getting into the groove.

"I reached 50 and my goal was to go on and get a hundred. I was thinking once I got to three figures the team would be a good position and we would get the lead. I wanted to be there to get the target for the team."

Samuels departed while trying to get some quick late runs, caught at long-off trying to clear the boundary off the spin of Saeed Ajmal. That left the tailenders Kemar Roach and Ravi Rampaul with plenty of work to do, with only the No. 11 Devendra Bishoo still to come, and Samuels said he had faith the lower-order men could do the job.

"I was talking to Roach when we were together, and I told him to believe," he said. "He is a guy who can bat and he is showing that. I believe in the guys to do the job for the team and take us close to the runs we need to get for the lead. We're still in the game. There is a lot of cricket left to be played."

West Indies need a similar tail-end effort to that provided by Pakistan after Tanvir Ahmed and Saeed Ajmal put on 78 for the last wicket. Tanvir made his maiden Test half-century and was the last man out for 57, and he said the pair knew it was an important partnership.

"I think Saeed and I did very well to bat the way we did, and give our side such a big partnership because the pitch is not playing easy," Tanvir said. "We needed those runs for the team, and it helped us to post a respectable total. I told Saeed Ajmal to try and play as straight as possible because they were bowling well, and he followed my advice, and I did the same, and it worked."

The class of '11

Apart from expensive overseas players, team owners, television ratings and a veneer of glamour, the IPL is also an opportunity for players to be seen. To be honest, I would like a little more of that and a little less of the fluff (though the balance is significantly better now than in past seasons), because eventually this is a cricket tournament; it is still bat and ball locked in combat.

And so, a few young Indian players have managed to drag attention towards themselves. But if you were a stock picker, if you were looking for flowers blushing unseen in the desert air, you will have been disappointed. One of the conclusions of this year's IPL is that there aren't enough quality Indian players to fill 10 teams. But there were some, even beyond the two who immediately caught the eye.

Paul Valthaty's biggest achievement was that he showed he wasn't a one-innings player. At this level you can get sorted out quickly - even though the best opposition bowler may get no more than two overs at a time - but Valthaty showed consistency. With his style he is always going to have less productive periods, where suddenly top edges might start going to fielders and inside edges onto stumps, but he tries and he has some grit about him. He is one of the nice things to have happened to the IPL; if they wanted to make a corporate film, they could feature him.

Rahul Sharma has passed a stern test. He bowled against pedigree and against sloggers and held his own. In spite of the Anil Kumble phenomenon, we are still accustomed to looking for flight and turn in spinners, not nip and bounce. Hence the better first impression that Amit Mishra makes. But this young man gets the ball to hurry and hits the top of the stump, not the base. I would love to see him bowl 10 overs against a quality batting side to see how they handle him. I don't think that is too far away.

Elsewhere, left-arm seamers were impressive. Venkatesh Prasad spoke highly of Sreenath Aravind and you could see why, and I must say I quite enjoyed watching Shrikant Wagh swing it back in to the right-handers. While I had seen Jaidev Unadkat on and off before, this season was the first time I saw a mean and well-directed bouncer from him. He is going to a great finishing school, travelling with Wasim Akram, which leads to me to wonder why we can't have such things as a matter of course. A prize for Rahul Sharma would be to spend five days with Anil Kumble, learning not just how to bowl but what goes into bowling. There was much to be said in favour of the old guru-shishya style of education.

Abu Nachim and Dhawal Kulkarni had their moments, and we must watch Varun Aaron closely. Like Ishant Sharma he is a fast bowler, but he must not imagine he is anything else - the trap Ishant fell into briefly. Few people have it in them to bowl quick, and as Aaron improves as an athlete, he will bowl quicker.

There were two other players I was hoping to see more of but couldn't: Ashok Dinda and Umesh Yadav. But I did see enough of Irfan Pathan and was delighted at his return. Predictably he looked rusty - you cannot dust away 10 months of inaction - but as the IPL went along, the swing returned. The more he bowls, the better he will get, and India must find some way of getting him to play as much cricket as he can.

Iqbal Abdulla will play bigger and better cricket. His height allows him to toss the ball up, and he is a fair turner of the ball. There is word that he can bat, but we haven't seen enough of that ability at this level. He only has to look towards the excellent Pragyan Ojha to realise why batting tends to get valued even if you are a bowler. In an era where fewer and fewer left-armers turn the ball, Abdulla was good to see. It is the same with Shadab Jakati.

Kolkata looks like it can throw up another batsman. Manoj Tiwary is driving in a very crowded lane at the moment, with Rohit Sharma, Cheteshwar Pujara, S Badrinath, Virat Kohli and Suresh Raina already battling for spots. But if you wanted to take a closer look at two quality domestic performers, you wouldn't look further than Tiwary and the very stylish Ajinkya Rahane. Sadly we didn't get to see enough of Abhinav Mukund; maybe that should wait another day.

Twenty-over cricket is a very short time in which to catch someone's eye, and to be honest, results can be misleading. That is why these names need to play 50-overs cricket, play in an atmosphere that demands more than Twenty20 does. That exists and is called the A tour, and we need to see much more of it.

For the love of Sachin

It is an understatement to say Jaipur is hot at the end of April. The heat is like a living thing, determined to scorch the earth of all other living things. Yet there the Sawai Mansingh Stadium was three weeks ago, with its uncovered stands, already half-full at 2.30pm, a good 90 minutes before the scheduled IPL game. By the time the umpires walked out to the middle, the place was packed with fans eager with anticipation.

Rajasthan Royals typically draw tremendous home support, but on this day it was clear the fans weren't there just for them. The opposing team were Mumbai Indians, and the fans had come to see Sachin Tendulkar. They cheered when he came out to warm up, cheered when he came out for the toss, and cheered when he came out to bat. Such was the reception for Tendulkar that during Rajasthan's next game against Pune Warriors, Shane Warne was moved to say at the toss that it was "nice to be home. They cheer us well here as long as Sachin's not playing."

The faces in the crowd reflected their dual allegiances, literally. One girl had the Rajasthan logo - the double R - painted on her right cheek. On her left, in the same blue paint, she had "Sachin Tendulkar". Unfortunately for the fans, Ashok Menaria had Tendulkar stumped for 7 in the fifth over. Having missed out on a chance to cheer their hero at the crease, the fans produced the loudest roar of the game when Tendulkar caught Rahul Dravid. No opportunity to celebrate India's most cherished cricketer was going to be missed, whatever the situation.

It has been a similar story at stadiums around the country. What the 2011 IPL has made clear is that Tendulkar transcends team loyalties, especially now in the twilight of his career, when it's hard to know if there will be another chance to see him play. The fans want to get a glimpse of him so they can tell their grandchildren: yes, I saw him bat. India's World Cup triumph has added to his aura, making his career appear complete. It was the final piece in the puzzle, the storybook ending, and what we are seeing now amounts to the standing ovation at the end of play.

"People are making an extra effort to be at the ground," Amrit Mathur, the chief executive of the Delhi Daredevils, told ESPNcricinfo. "It is one more chance to see a legend, to see Tendulkar. Because he is Tendulkar, and if you miss out, you might not see him again."

The numbers back up the existence of a "Tendulkar effect". Television ratings for Mumbai have been consistently higher, and their games have attracted more viewers, than those of the other franchises. It is the same story at the box office. Ashish Hemrajani, the founder and chief executive of BookMyShow.com, which handles ticket sales for four of the 10 franchises, told ESPNcricinfo that all the Mumbai games have been sold out, barring a few early ones. While other teams' sales depend in part on the quality of the opposition and the time of the match, Mumbai, he said, has transcended these factors. "The Mumbai games most certainly sell off quicker."

Neetu Bhatia, who heads Kyazoonga.com, which handles tickets for Pune, said they were selling about 70% of the tickets for each game, with one exception - Mumbai. "It was completely sold out. And not just sold out two days prior but sold out three weeks prior." When it comes to watching Tendulkar, you don't take chances.

Part of Tendulkar's universal appeal is his consistent excellence, which resonates with fans of all backgrounds. Keshav Joshi, 29, has been watching cricket since he was six years old. In 1996 he went to each of India's games in the World Cup. Having grown up in Pune, he supports the Warriors and the Maharashtra state team, who have had a long, albeit unsuccessful, rivalry with Mumbai in Indian domestic cricket (think of Maharashtra as the Manchester City and Mumbai as the Manchester United of Indian cricket). It is safe to say that Joshi is not a Mumbai fan. But like millions of others, he finds it impossible to set aside his admiration for Tendulkar, the India batsman, in favour of IPL team loyalty.

"I think SRT's fan following is based on his exploits for the Indian team, and although he plays for a different IPL team, deep down I want him to do well even against the Warriors, as long as we win," Joshi said. "The same question could be asked to supporters of the Maharashtra Ranji team. When we play Mumbai, I still want SRT to do well. A lot of it has to do with him showing his mastery irrespective of who he is playing against."

Joshi roots for Tendulkar to score runs against the teams he supports, so he can have "the opportunity of seeing the best batsman on earth play". He even supported Mumbai in the first three IPLs because of Tendulkar and the team's geographical proximity to Pune, but switched loyalties once the Warriors were born. His support for Tendulkar, however, remained intact, as it has for others like him. "A lot of my friends, now that PWI is pretty much out, have begun supporting Mumbai again."

It isn't just the fans who revere Tendulkar either. Mathur, the Delhi chief executive, says it extends to the players who play with and against Tendulkar. "The people in the squads on either side - they consider it a privilege that they are in a game with Tendulkar." Signs of that were evident during the World Cup. R Ashwin, the India offspinner who plays for Chennai Super Kings, said playing with Tendulkar was a moment he had waited for. After his first World Cup game, Ashwin took a stump out of the ground and got Tendulkar to sign it as a memento.

It is an aura that has grown not only with the sheer weight of Tendulkar's achievements but also because of how he has carried himself as a person. "He is one icon who has conducted himself very well," Mathur said. "No taint in his conduct or in his behaviour or in a way he has carried himself, not just as a cricketer but as a personality and as a role model. He has reached a stage I think it will be impossible for anyone [else] to reach."

Mumbai has two games left in the league stage and at least two more playoff games. Two of those games will be played in Mumbai, but wherever Tendulkar plays, it will sound and feel like home.