Bangalore: Mumbai Masters will look to put behind the disappointment of the defeat at the hands of Saina Nehwal-led Hyderabad Hotshots in their previous match and focus on staying in hunt for the semifinal berth when they cross swords with resilient Awadhe Warriors in the Indian Badminton League (IBL) here on Saturday.
Despite a thrilling victory by world number one Lee Chong Wei of Mumbai Masters in the opening match on Thursday, they lost the script after Hotshots bounced back with Saina guiding the team to a 3-2 win.
But come Saturday, Mumbai will be expecting Chong Wei (Malaysia), Marc Zwiebler (Germany), Tine Baun (Denmark) and Vladimir Ivanov (Russia) to perform to their potential.
Mumbai have garnered 13 points and are placed second in the points table, while the Warriors scrapped to number four position after thrashing Krrish Delhi Smasher 4-1 Thursday.
Apart from Chong Wei, Zwiebler has also put up impressive performances for Mumbai so far in the tournament, except when he was stunned by Thailand's Saensomboonsuk yesterday.
On the other hand, the likes of Malaysian Weng Fei Chong, R M V Gurusaidutt and Thailand Open champion K Srikanth in the Warriors line-up could not considered as world beaters.
The mixed doubles pair of Ivanov and Sikki Reddy have been exceptional in the tournament so far. Mumbai will be hoping they can replicate their performance against the patchy Warriors in this segment.
In fact, Sikki has been one of the most impressive doubles players in the IBL with her deft abilities at the net.
It will be, however, interesting to see if Chong Wei features in the mixed doubles event like he did in the tie against Krrish Delhi Smashers.
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