Preview - Rajasthan Royals v Deccan Chargers

Match facts Friday, May 9, 2008 Start time 20.00 (local), 14.30 (GMT) The Big Picture The last time these teams met, Shane Warne smashed 16 off three balls in the last over to swing an unlikely victory for Rajasthan. Their fortunes have been contrasting since then; Rajasthan had a run of four straight wins before losing to Mumbai on Wednesday while star-studded Deccan have been patchy with a couple of wins among the losses. Deccan have the edge coming into this match following their win over Chennai on Tuesday and need a few more if they are to make the top four. Rajasthan, despite their strong position will no doubt be jolted after being rolled over for 103 - a tournament low - by Mumbai, inside just 17 overs, before losing by seven wickets. But this time they play at home, where they are yet to lose a game, and they will want that trend to continue and hence reclaim their position at the top of the table. Tournament position Deccan Chargers P7, W2, L5, NRR -0.011 Rajasthan Royals P7, W5, L2, NRR +0.436 IPL form (last five matches) Deccan Chargers LWLLW Rajasthan Royals WWWWL Watch out for ... Adam Gilchrist v Warne. Both retired legends have shown no signs of rust and have been the pillars of their team's victories so far. Swapnil Asnodkar. The pint-sized opener, similar in style to Sri Lanka's Romesh Kaluwitharana, has 131 runs from three games and has established himself as Rajasthan's trump at the top of the order. Yusuf Pathan and Shahid Afridi. Both are known to biff the ball around and are handy spin options as well. Team news Deccan will wait on VVS Laxman, who was unfit for the previous game with a hand injury. Otherwise, they will probably retain their winning combination. Deccan (probable) 1 Adam Gilchrist (capt/wk), 2 Herschelle Gibbs, 3 Scott Styris, 4 Rohit Sharma, 5 Shahid Afridi, 6 Venugopal Rao, 7 Sanjay Bangar, 8 Arjun Yadav, 9 RP Singh, 10 P Vijaykumar, 11 Pragyan Ojha Rajasthan have an embarrassment of riches as far as overseas players are concerned. Younis Khan is yet to get a game, but none of their overseas recruits are in danger of losing their places to fit him in. Rajasthan Royals (probable) 1 Graeme Smith, 2 Swapnil Asnodkar, 3 Yusuf Pathan, 4 Shane Watson, 5 Mohammad Kaif, 6 Ravindra Jadeja, 7 Mahesh Rawat, 8 Shane Warne, 9 Sohail Tanvir, 10 Siddharth Trivedi, 11 Munaf Patel Stats and trivia Shane Watson is the leading run-scorer (208) and wicket-taker (9), for Rajasthan. Yusuf Pathan's strike-rate in Twenty20 is a massive 184.28, in 12 games. Shahid Afridi has aggregated a paltry 46 in six games. Out of that, 40 have come in boundaries alone. Clearly, he's not a big fan of singles.

Preview - Bangalore Royal Challengers v/s Deccan Chargers

Match facts Saturday, May 3 2008 Start time 16.00 (local), 10.30 (GMT) The Big Picture It's the tale of two captains under pressure. Rahul Dravid has tried everything - he has opened, moved down the order and come up again but without much success. VVS Laxman, after looking clueless in the initial encounters, is beginning to find some form but he has been unable to convert the starts into substantial scores. The captains' desperation seems to have caught on to the teams. Bangalore should have won against the Chennai Super Kings but choked; they could have won against the Delhi Daredevils but couldn't find that one big over that they desperately needed. Similarly, the Deccan Chargers have had their close encounters. Both teams have registered their solitary wins against fellow-strugglers Mumbai Indians. If the captains are under similar pressure, the teams, though, couldn't be more different. Deccan were supposed to be the powerhouse team with attacking batsmen while Bangalore had batsmen who had great Test records but were not known for their big hitting. But both set of players have been unable to gel as a unit. In their last two games, Bangalore did seem to find some momentum but were unable to finish off. Watch out for ... ... Herschelle Gibbs. This could be the format to showcase his game, which depends a great deal on hand-eye coordination. His paddle-scoops, his pulls off the front foot and the innovative adjustments can make for a fascinating viewing experience. Also, look out for Misbah-ul-Haq. With Ross Taylor leaving for England, Misbah, the man who burst into prominence with his showings at the World Twenty20, should get a chance here. A veteran of domestic Twenty20 games in Pakistan, he has the nous and the wherewithal to shine in this format. Team news Bangalore are stuck with a problem more than one team has faced in the IPL: which foreign player to play and whom to bench. They have had starting problems, but if they play Shivnarine Chanderpaul, they might not be able to pick Misbah. Jacques Kallis is wanted for his all-round skills, Mark Boucher is the wicketkeeper and you can't drop Dale Steyn. Dravid said that Anil Kumble will replace Sunil Joshi and either J Arun Kumar or Bharat Chipli could get a chance. Bangalore (likely): 1 Praveen Kumar, 2 Wasim Jaffer, 3 Misbah-ul-Haq, 4 Jacques Kallis, 5 Rahul Dravid (capt), 6 Mark Boucher (wk), 7 Virat Kohli, 8 Zaheer Khan, 9 Dale Steyn, 10 Anil Kumble, 11 R Vinay Kumar. Deccan came close to playing the aggressive Hyderabad opener Ravi Teja but have chosen to stick with the tried-and-failed Venugopal Rao. There is also Arjun Yadav who could slot into the middler order in place of Rao. The team landed in Bangalore only late on Friday evening and they will have a light practice session on the morning of the match. Deccan (likely): 1 Adam Gilchrist, 2 VVS Laxman (capt), 3 Hershelle Gibbs, 4 Rohit Sharma, 5 Shahid Afridi, 6 Arjun Yadav, 7, Sanjay Bangar, 8 Nuwan Zoysa, 9 D Kalyankrishna, 10 RP Singh, 11 Pragyan Ojha. IPL form Bangalore Royal Challengers: LWLLL Deccan Chargers: LLLWL Stats and trivia Dravid has already batted in three different positions - opening, No. 7 and 5 - in five games. Adam Gilchrist has scored the IPL's fastest century so far - off 42 balls against the Mumbai Indians Quotes "You have to challenge yourselves to fight back when you have your backs to the wall. Playing Deccan (who are struggling) doesn't make any difference because in Twenty20 the team that executes their plans best wins. They have a very good players, any one of them can crack the game open. But we have started gelling as a team in the last two games." Rahul Dravid is hopeful of a better performance in their next game