Mumbai Indians coach John Wright confirmed Sachin Tendulkar and Ricky Ponting will continue to open the batting in IPL 2013, as they look for their first win when they take on Chennai Super Kings at the MA Chidambaram Stadium.
Tendulkar and Ponting created quite a buzz by coming out together against the Royal Challengers Bangalore, and although they could not transform a good start into a win, MI are keen on continuing the alliance.
"It's great for the competition and it's a unique feature of the IPL where you have the likes of Sachin and Ponting batting together," Mumbai coach John Wright said. "That's why the tournament excites the fans.
"They too are finding it exciting to bat together, something they probably have never done before. It's also such a unique learning opportunity for the youngsters in our team.
"We feel that Ponting and Sachin opening for us is currently the right thing and we've talked about it in the team. We definitely have high-skilled batsmen who can rotate the strike. But if we can combine that skill with a couple of power-hitters, we're going to be a stronger unit."
CSK have been notoriously slow starters in the tournament, before making that final push for the playoffs. Coach Stephen Fleming is determined to change that trend in IPL-6, hoping the Indian core will be confident after their 4-0 drubbing of Australia in the recently concluded Test series.
"It does take us some time to get into the tournament," he said. "It depends on where our key performers come from because we rely a lot on our Indian players.
"Generally right before the IPL there's one or the other big international event that takes place. This time it's different. With the great series win against Australia you feel that the confidence within the core Indian players in our team is very high. Hopefully that translates to a good start."
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