Mumbai: Boosted by the availability of their icon and captain Sachin Tendulkar who has recovered from his groin injury, hosts Mumbai go into their IPl clash against the high-flying Chennai eager to make it four wins in-a-row at the Wankhede stadium on Wednesday.

After being forced to sit out of the first seven matches of the Twenty20 league, the master batsman would be eager to stamp his authority on the proceedings immediately in what is for his team, lying sixth, a very critical match.

The Mumbai outfit started the IPL on a poor note, without Tendulkar in the playing eleven, and slid to four straight defeats before arresting the downward-going graph.

The Harbhajan Singh slapping episode of April 25 leading to the booting out of the off spinner by the IPL authorities only added to their woes.

But victories in their last three matches, including against top performers Delhi Daredevils and Rajasthan Royals, have boosted the sagging morale of the team and Tendulkar's return should only add to their confidence in what is the ace batsman's home ground.

The Mahendra Singh Dhoni-led Chennai team, on the other hand, started in spectacular fashion before stumbling a bit only to regain poise with a fine 18-run victory over

Mohali on May 10.

Both the teams seem to have settled down after an uncertain period, initially for Mumbai and after the departure of Australians Matthew Hayden and Mike Hussey for Chennai, and Wednesday's clash under lights promises plenty of fire-works for the crowd.

Comeback man Laxmipathy Balaji performed brilliantly with a five-wicket haul that included the IPL's first hat-trick, and his duel with two of the world's most attacking batsmen - Tendulkar and Sri Lankan great Sanath Jayasuriya - would be worth the wait.

Veteran Jayasuriya has not really exploded in full might, but only given glimpses of what could happen if he blooms fully and hopefully for the hosts it will happen in Tendulkar's company.

Mumbai's batting, overall, has not succeeded to an extent it was expected to, indicated clearly by the fact that Robin Uthappa has been their leading run-getter with 211 runs in seven ties, but without a half-century to his credit.

At critical times the home team has lost well-set batsmen and this trend needs to be reversed if they are to outperform Chennai and exact revenge for the defeat in the

first leg their clash on April 23 in Chennai.

Tendulkar has said the bowlers have taken early wickets in the matches the team had won and this was the key for the turnaround in their fortunes.

Shaun Pollock, who led the side admirably in Tendulkar's absence, would once again lead the attack but to the good tidings of the team Ashish Nehra seems to have struck form and also fetched the man of the match award in the last tie against Jaipur.

Mumbai's spin bowling still looks a bit thin after the exit of Harbhajan and Chennai would look to take advantage of this factor when they bat.