IPL3Deccan Chargers vs. Rajasthan Royals, 36th match, Nagpur

[andrewppollock]

There are many similarities between the Rajasthan Royals and the Deccan Chargers. Both are led by retired Australian players, who redefined their art and are legitimate legends of the game. Both have won the IPL from starting off the season as absolute no-hopers. And both are next to each other in the points table of the current edition. A loss here will significantly dent semi-final aspirations for both teams, but more so for Deccan than for Rajasthan.

However, Deccan do have the advantage of having played one game less than Rajasthan, though with the business end of the tournament approaching, having games in hand is no longer enough - what teams need are points on the table.

The one area in which Rajasthan have scored over the Chargers is in the performance of the Australians who have joined both teams at the start of the month. Shane Watson didn't bowl particularly well (but then, no one apart from Doug Bollinger did), but he blasted 60 off 25 balls. Ryan Harris - of whom Deccan would have also expected big things - however, didn't live up to his billing and nor to his recent form for Australia.

It is bowling that is plaguing Deccan the most at this moment, though the batting worries are also abundant. Apart from Pragyan Ojha, Gilchrist has not been able to rely on any of his bowlers for any extended length of time. Kemar Roach was pacy but erratic, Ryan Harris was in form but expensive, and RP Singh's form was so bad that he was left out of the playing eleven, with rookies Jaskaran and Harpreet preferred over him. It might be time for Chaminda Vaas to make his way back into the side. Though Vaas doesn't offer the pace and bounce that Harris or Roach have, he had shown admirable control in his first spells. Gilchrist might be tempted to give Harris another go, however, since a bowler can always have one bad match on any given day.

Gilchrist's own form is the Chargers' biggest batting concern, and the skipper hasn't had a decent innings for a while now. Last year, he was the IPL's second highest scorer, and that went a long way towards powering Deccan, but without the explosive Gilchrist starts, the Deccan batting has crumbled this year. Andrew Symonds has been good, and Gibbs too has scored runs, but for this match, one of them is likely to sit out. Deccan have the talented Dwayne Smith on the bench, and if they draft him in place of Gibbs, they give themselves additional bowling options too.

Rajasthan are coming off two consecutive losses - a thrashing by Delhi, and a spirited fight against Chennai. The loss against Chennai could have even raised the morale of the side for the way they refused to back down in the face of daunting odds.

However, what must not be forgotten is that their bowling was carted around the park relentlessly. True, it was a batting paradise, but Rajasthan's bowlers and fielders didn't help their cause by handing out freebies to the Chennai batsmen.

Warne will need to ensure that there is more discipline in the field from Rajasthan - which, incidentally was one of the key aspects during their run of four consecutive victories.

It will be interesting to see the by-play between the two captains as well. They have been long-time team-mates and despite Warne's strenuous denials, suspicion abounds that he has held a grudge against Gilchrist, because he was passed over for the Australian vice-captaincy in favour of Gilchrist.

A win here will put Rajasthan right back into contention for a semi-final spot, while a loss for Deccan would see their semi-final hopes shrink by alarming proportions. Rajasthan have a lot to gain from winning, Deccan stand to lose an equal amount by not winning, which should make this a good contest.

Teams:

Deccan Chargers (From): Herschelle Gibbs, Adam Gilchrist(w/c), VVS Laxman, Andrew Symonds, Rohit Sharma, Monish Mishra, Tirumalsetti Suman, Ryan Harris, Rahul Sharma, Jaskaran Singh, Pragyan Ojha, Anirudh Singh, Dwaraka Ravi Teja, Venugopal Rao, Dwayne Smith, Harmeet Singh, Kemar Roach, Ashish Reddy, Azhar Bilakhia, Mitchell Marsh, RP Singh, Bodapati Sumanth, Chaminda Vaas, Arjun Yadav

Rajasthan Royals (From): Michael Lumb, Naman Ojha(w), Yusuf Pathan, Shane Watson, Faiz Fazal, Abhishek Jhunjunwala, Abhishek Raut, Shane Warne(c), Shrikant Wagh, Sumit Narwal, Shaun Tait, Munaf Patel, Siddharth Trivedi, Swapnil Asnodkar, Amit Singh, Amit Gajanan Paunikar, Johan Botha, Kamran Khan, Morne Morkel, Syed Quadri, Mahesh Rawat, Paras Dogra, Amit Uniyal, Aditya Dole, Adam Voges, Aaron Finch

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