IPL-5: Tamim Iqbal will make his debut for Pune Warriors

Tamim Iqbal

Tamim Iqbal will make his debut for Pune Warriors India in their IPL match on Friday against a buoyant Mumbai Indians side who thrashed reigning champions Chennai Super Kings in opener.

The dashing Bangladesh opening batsman enjoyed a brilliant Asia Cup where he scored four fifties to help the Tigers reach the final. He is only the fifth Bangladesh cricketer to feature in the competition thus far.

After starting their campaign with a comfortable eight-wicket win, Mumbai Indians are the favourites against a new-look Warriors outfit at the Wankhede Stadium.

Mumbai Indians have a 100 percent win record against the Pune Warriors India.

MI beat PWI on both occasions the teams clashed in IPL 2011. In the first meeting between these teams, at Mumbai, MI bowled out PWI for 118 and chased down the target off the last ball. In the second meeting, at Navi Mumbai, MI posted 160 for seven batting first and restricted their opponents to 139 for seven.

Mumbai's new recruit South African Richard Levi also started impressively with a 35-ball 50 on his IPL debut to clinch the man-of-the-match award.

The only worry ahead of Friday's game is the finger injury sustained by Tendulkar when he fended at a lifter from left-arm pacer Doug Bollinger and retired hurt.

The Warriors, on the other hand, have a tough task as their key player and last year's skipper Yuvraj Singh, will be missing, recovering from the treatment for a rare form of cancer.

The man-of-the-tournament in India's World Cup victory in 2011, Yuvraj had brought the much-needed balance to the outfit with his power-packed batting (343 runs in 14 games) and effective left-arm spin (nine wickets) last season.

Sourav Ganguly, 39, came out of retirement and played for Bengal in domestic cricket in order to prepare himself for the IPL.

He has one good option to fill in for the absent Yuvraj - West Indian Marlon Samuels - who had recently played in the ODI and T20 series against Australia at home.