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The much awaited Final of IPL twenty20 2009 finally arrived. Guess what we will witness two teams that are relinquishing at the bottom of the table last year will clash in the Final of 2009.

Both teams journey to Final of IPL 2009 are with high and low. Deccan Chargers started their 2009 IPL campaign in great fashion winning their first four games but then they have lost their way in the middle of the tournament but some how bounced back and reach the semi final of IPL 2009. The manner in which they - rather their captain Adam Gilchrist - crushed Delhi Daredevils in the semi-final was stirring.

Adam Gilchrist led the side from front. He is the second highest run getter of IPL season two. Other batters like H.Gibbs is inconsistent with the bat, however Rohit Sharma has played some outstanding innings to escape Deccan Chargers from loosing the games.

It’s totally different story for Royal Challengers Bangalore, they have won their first game quite convincingly but lost their way after that. The last match they lost in this tournament was the last they could afford to. And they have won their last five games, much like Australia's victorious campaign in the 1999 World Cup.

The major turnaround came for Bangalore when Anil Kumble took the captaincy from a beleaguered Kevin Pietersen. He has shown to others what a proper team selection and encouragement can do for any team.

Royal Challengers Bangalore younger Indian players performed exceptionally well. They didn’t started the tournament well but as tournament reached it’s final stages they started to show how better they are. Players like Manish Pandey, Virat Kohli, Praveen Kumar and Vinay Kumar came good for Bangalore when it matter most.

Royal Challengers Bangalore is a confident side and will be boosted by the knowledge that they beat Deccan Chargers last time. But they can’t take Deccan Chargers lightly and if they would like to clinch IPL 2009 title then they have to handle Gilchrist, Gibbs, Symonds and Rohit Sharma carefully.

Pitch & Conditions

The pitch at New Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg will be full of runs with clear sky. As we have seen in the two semi finals, the team winning the toss has loved to chase down the score so it will be interesting to see what strategy adapt by the captains for big IPL twenty20 Final. Any score between 160-170 runs would be defendable total on this wicket considering the pressure of Final.

Team News

Royal Challengers Bangalore is likely to go into the match with the same XI that played in the Semi Finals of IPL 2009. On the other hand Deccan Chargers will hope that middle order batsman Ravi Teja recovers from hamstring injury and if this is the case then he may replace Azhar Bilakhia in the playing XI.

Likely Playing XI for both teams (Match is schedule to begin at 20:00 PM India Time on 24^th Of May)

Deccan Chargers: Adam Gilchrist (Captain/WK), Herschelle Gibbs, T.Suman, Rohit Sharma, A.Symonds, Venugopal Rao, Azhar Bilakhia, Ryan Harris, Harmeet Singh, Pragyan Ojha, RP Singh.

Royal Challengers Bangalore: Manish Pandey, Jacques Kallis, Rahul Dravid, Robin Uthappa, Ross Taylor, Virat Kohli, Mark Boucher (WK), Roelof van der Merwe, Praveen Kumar, R Vinay Kumar, Anil Kumble (Captain).

Stats & Trivia

So far Bangalore have won their last five games on trot that is record of any team in the IPL season two.

Team chasing have won five out of six games at New Wanderers, Johannesburg and Royal Challengers Bangalore have won three out of three games while chasing.

Eight Batsman have scored more than 350 runs in the tournament and only one of the batsman will feature in the IPL twenty20 Final. Bangalore highest run getter has managed 346 runs in the tournament.

Adam Gilchrist needs another 78 runs to get pass Mathew Hayden aggregate of 572 runs to become the leading run scorer in IPL 2009.