In the 2nd semi final of IPL, Kings XI Punjab may start as favorite against Chennai Super Kings but the same team has beaten the Kings XI Punjab twice in the league game. Once when they scored a brilliant 200 plus with the help of M.Hussey century and once when L.Balaji taken hat-trick to halt the winning streak of Kings XI Punjab.
However it will require lots of effort from Chennai Super Kings to make it three in three. A fine mixture of experience in both bowling and batting department makes Kings XI Punjab far more superior team than Chennai Super Kings.
Chennai Super Kings who started the tournament on high seems to lost their way in the middle but now with the two consecutive wins in their last two league games they will be keen to make the most of it now in the semi-finals
The main concerned for Chennai Super Kings is their batting. The batting department especially top orders didn't clicked after the departure of M.Hayden and M.Hussey and it will be main worrying factor for M.S.Dhoni.
Player to Watch
Shaun Marsh: This man dream run continued in IPL so far, in the previous game he smashed a sparkling century to beat Rajasthan Royals. So he will be the man for Kings XI Punjab if they would like to post a daunting total on the board.
Yuvraj Singh: As we saw in the previous game that what this man is capable of and why many people called him master of sixes. He has came back into the form at the right time for his team and this is good news for Kings XI Punjab team as well as Mumbai crowds.
Pitch Report
As we have seen in the 1st semi final that team batting first will have advantages in these types of crunch games. So it will be no surprise if team winning the toss would opt to bat first. The pitch will be same as used for 1st semi final so it will get slower as the game progresses in the 2nd inning of the game.
Team News
S.Fleming already gone back to his home town due to family concern so now M.S. Dhoni and his men have to rely on new opening pair in the face of S.Vidyut or S.Anirudhha. Rest of the team will be same as they played in their last game. Kings XI Punjab on the other hand looks more settle team and they might stick with same but M. Jayawardne might get recall in place of Luke Pomersbach due to loads of experience he has.
Likely Playing XI for both the teams (Match will start from 20:00 PMIndia time)
Kings XI Punjab: Shaun Marsh, James Hopes, Kumar Sangakkara (WK), Yuvraj Singh (Captain), Luke Pomersbach, Tanmay Srivatsava, Irfan Pathan, Piyush Chawla, Ramesh Powar, VRV Singh, S.Sreesanth.
Chennai Super Kings: Parthiv Patel (WK), S Vidyut, Suresh Raina, Mahendra Singh Dhoni (Captain), Chamara Kapugedera, S Badrinath, Albie Morkel, Manpreet Gony, L Balaji, Muttiah Muralitharan, Makhaya Ntini.
After the long league matches the final knockout game is arrived finally and no team can relax now since a single mistake from any team will shattered their dream of winning IPL. The first semi finals between Delhi Daredevils and Rajasthan Royals will be the first clash for the title. Both team already played each other twice in the tournament and on both occasion Delhi has upper hand despite of losing one close game against Royals.
Both sides have evenly matched as well as balanced squad. But Delhi Daredevils looks more dangerous of two with the quality of bowling attack they have likes of Md. Asif and G. Mcgrath both are economical bowler as well as they can destroy any batting line up.
In batting department also Delhi daredevils have one of the most explosive opening pair in Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir and if there top three batsman fires today then Rajasthan Royals may found themselves in trouble.
Both the teams have depended on their top-order to fire well and pile up a big total, and middle orders of both the sides looked a bit under-prepared when chips were down. So both teams look to get their top three quickly to gain the advantage in the match.
Sohail Tanvir with his quick arm action looks most dangerous bowler in the tournament and his figure suggest the same with 21 wickets in 10 matches. The left-armer has been outstanding both in the beginning and at the death and is a major threat that needs to be negotiated well by the Delhi batsmen who did not play against him in the previous two clashes.
Player to Watch
Gautam Gambhir: He is the second highest run getter of IPL and he would like to snatch the orange cap from Kings XI Punjab dashing left hander S.Marsh. It will be great occasion if he able to achieve the same for his team in the big 1st semi finals against one of the strongest team of the tournament.
Y.Pathan and S.Watson: Both has performed more than what was expected from these two in the IPL and both have shown what they are capable of. If both get goings then they can turn the match in their team favor.
Pitch Report
Pitch at Wankhede stadium will support the spinner so any score between 170 to180 will be defendable. The team winning the toss would like to bat first and set the target to the opposition in the pressure match like this.
Team News
With Md. Asif declared fit after an injury so Delhi Daredevils will be keen to include him in the playing XI. By seeing at the pitch Amit Mishra also get chance to play in today’s match. On the other hand Rajasthan Royals will be with their full strength squad with Shane Warne, Sohail Tanvir, G.Smith and S.Asnodhkar will be back into the final XI.
Likely Playing XI for both the teams (Match will start from 20:00 PM India time)
A consistent performance from Yusuf Pathan in on going IPL twenty20 able to impress the selectors to get selected for the triangular series ODI to be played in Bangladesh from June 8th to June 14th.
Yusuf Pathan was expected to be included in the team with his power hitting show in IPL. He has scored 334 runs at 27.83 from 13 innings with three fifties, and recorded the fastest half-century of the Twenty20 tournament: off 21 balls against the Deccan Chargers. He also took five wickets at 41.60 with his off spin.
While Pragyan Ojha was surprised inclusion in the team ahead of Murali Karthik. Though Ojha was not among the highest wicket takers in the Indian Premier League with just 11 in 13 matches, he showed versatility in bowling at various stages of the matches including in the final overs.
Sachin Tendulkar was ruled out of the two tournaments because of a groin injury, while other senior players like Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid were once again not able to impress the selectors enough in IPL to get into the team. While Harbhajan Singh is not considered for selection beacuase of ban imposed by BCCI.
D.Karthik and Munaf Patel Dinesh Karthik and Munaf Patel, who played in the CB Series, failed to make the cut.
Indian squad for Triangular Series and Asia Cup: Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Rohit Sharma, Mahendra Singh Dhoni (Captain), Yuvraj Singh (vice-capt), Robin Uthappa, Suresh Raina, Pragyan Ojha, Irfan Pathan, Yusuf Pathan, Piyush Chawla, Ishant Sharma, RP Singh, Praveen Kumar, S. Sreesanth.
Here is the fixture of Triangular ODI series to be played in Bangladesh
The triangular series will be short in nature and each team will play one match to each other and then top two teams will play final on 14th June.
India Vs Pakistan Vs Bangladesh Schedule (All timing are mentioned in GMT+05:30)
Timing
Teams
Venue
Sun 8 June (D/N)
14:00 PM
1st Match - Bangladesh v Pakistan
Shere Bangla National Stadium, Mirpur
Tue 10 June (D/N)
14:00 PM
2nd Match - India v Pakistan
Shere Bangla National Stadium, Mirpur
Thu 12 June (D/N)
14:00 PM
3rd Match - Bangladesh v India
Shere Bangla National Stadium, Mirpur
Sat 14 June (D/N)
14:00 PM
Final
Shere Bangla National Stadium, Mirpur
Here is the fixture of Asia Cup to be played in Pakistan
Pakistan will host the Asia Cup from June 24th to July 6 in Karachi and Lahore this year.
This is the first time the tournament is being staged in Pakistan, and is the first edition of what was meant to originally be an annual event, since 2004.
The initial group phase of matches will be held in Lahore, while the second stage as well as the final will be held in Karachi. As the heat is expected to be severe, particularly in Lahore, all matches will be day-night contests.
Six teams will be divided into two groups namely Group A and B. All of them will play with each other in their corresponding groups then top two teams from each group will advanced to next stage.
Then all four teams will play with each other and based on points top two teams will move to Final to be played on July 6th 2008 to be played at National Stadium, Karachi.
Asia Cup 2008 Fixture (All timing are mentioned in GMT+05:30)
A blistering knock from Shaun Marsh of 115 runs from just 69 balls with 7 towering sixes and 11 fours helped his team to beat the top team of IPL twenty20 by 41 runs. Along with Shaun Marsh his captain Yuvraj Singh for the first time in the tournament looks in great touch as he hit six sixes five in a row to scored quick fire 49 runs of just 16 balls to helped his team reach a massive total of 221/3 in their 20 overs after they were put into bat by the Rajasthan Royals.
Shaun Marsh continued his good form as he put on 133 runs for the first wicket in just 13.4 overs with his partner James Hopes (51 runs of 35 balls). After the departure of Hopes it was Yuvraj and Marsh who played there shots all around the park to make sure there team reach a total which was beyond Rajasthan Royals reach.
Today was one of the bad days for Royals bowlers as each one of them get hammered by the hands of Kings XI Punjab batsman. Although Rajasthan Royals were playing without their regular skipper Shane Warne and their in form players like G. Smith, S.Tanvir and S. Asnodhkar.
Chasing this huge total Royals started quite surprisingly by sending Md. Kaif and Neeraj Patel to open the innings. But there tactics didn’t work when S.Sreesanth removed Md. Kaif in his 2nd over. Younis Khan playing his first game of tournament also didn’t lasted longer as he was bowled by I.Pathan swinging delivery.
After wards it was always going to be huge ask for the batters to come since required run rate already climb to 13.50 runs per over due to lack of hitting in the power play overs. Although few batsman did manage to put pressure back on Kings XI while they were at the crease. The likes of Neeraj Patel (57 runs of 39 balls), Yusuf Pathan (39 runs of 15 balls), Kamran Akmal (24 runs of 8 balls) and Shane Watson (22 runs of 19 balls) they tried their best but no one able to get going till end to upset Kings XI Punjab.
Now Rajasthan Royals will play Delhi Daredevils in the 1st semi final on Friday, a team which looks most dangerous of the lot qualified for the semifinals and Kings XI Punjab will play with Chennai Super Kings in the 2nd semi final of IPL on Saturday.
Chennai Super Kings has beaten Deccan Chargers by 7 wickets to go into the next stage of IPL. Now they will play Kings XI Punjab in the second semifinal of IPL to be played in Wankhede stadium Mumbai.
Chasing an easy target of 148 runs to win Chennai Super Kings achieved the target with the loss of three wickets in 19.2 overs. Though neither Chennai opener, Parthiv Patel and Stephen Fleming, could really get things off the ground, the middle-order made sure that there was no case a surprise hitting them at the wrong time. Suresh Raina kept one side up after the openers had departed, and his efficient stand with the aggressive Mahendra Singh Dhoni ensured that there were no alarms.
The Hyderabad team did not get too much from their bowlers, with the medium-pacers at no stage looking like keeping them in the game. In the end after the dismissal of M.S.Dhoni (37 runs of 25 balls) although the match get little closer but S.Raina (54 runs of 43 balls) and A.Morkel (12 runs of 12 balls) guide there team to a comfortable win.
The last-over end belied the level of comfort that Chennai had. It however went on to prove Hyderabad's fragility when it comes to finishing off things. They have lost seven close games, which was quite symptomatic.
Earlier Deccan Chargers captain A.Gilchrist won the toss and decided to bat first but they didn’t got of to start they were looking for as both the openers dismissed quite cheaply by the opening bowling pair of CSK. However some sensible batting by Venugopal Rao (46 runs of 46 balls) and R.Teja (40 runs of 28 balls) put on 76 runs for the fourth wicket to get them close to 150 runs mark in their 20 overs.
With the win of Chennai Super Kings the hopes of making into the semifinals for Mumbai Indians is over.
Now the 1st Semi Final of IPL twenty20 will be played between Delhi Daredevils and Rajasthan Royals on 30th of May. 2nd Semi Final will be played between Chennai Super Kings Vs Kings XI Punjab on 31st of May. Both semifinals and final of IPL twenty20 will be played in Wankhede Stadium Mumbai which will be Night game started from 20:00 PMIndia time.
Chennai must win today’s to secure their berth in the semi final of IPL twenty20. However if the result didn’t get in their favor then they have to pray for Royal Challengers Bangalore to come out on top of Mumbai Indians if they have to qualify.
But M.S.Dhoni mans don’t want to take the chances too much as they would like to secure their place in the semi finals by themselves not by the result of other match. On the other hand Deccan Chargers would really like to end their bad IPL twenty20 campaign on high note since they have not won a single match in front of their home crowd and they will be looking to register a win against Chennai Super Kings to give their crowd something to cheer about.
With Delhi Daredevils already qualified for the semi finals now its battle for fourth spot between Chennai Super Kings and Mumbai Indians. Chennai Super Kings who looks rusty with the ball in there last match against Rajasthan Royals needs to tighten their groove if they want to beat the teams like Deccan Chargers who has so far under performed with the reputation they have.
Player to Watch
Rohit Sharma: The man who is in prime form and he may like to score as many as runs possible for his team in his last outing of IPL 2008. He has scored 404 runs so far in the tournament.
A.Morkel: This man is in prime form both with bat and bowl and he would like to carry the momentum in today’s crunch game.
Pitch Report
Pitch at Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Uppal, Hyderabad will be slow and will assist spinners. So any team batting first would like to impose something around 170 runs on the board to put the opposition under pressure. Team winning the toss would like to field first as we have seen out of six matched played here the team batting second have won on four occasions.
Team News
Deccan Chargers will likely to make one changes from their squad that played against Royal Challengers Bangalore by bringing back Shahid Afridi in place of Chaminda Vaas. On the other hand Chennai Super Kings will retain the same squad as played against Rajasthan Royals.
Likely Playing XI for both the teams (Match will start from 20:00 PM India time)
Deccan Chargers: Adam Gilchrist (Capt & WK), H.Gibbs, Shahid Afridi, Rohit Sharma, Chamara Silva/N.Zoyasa, Venugopal Rao, D Ravi Teja, Sarvesh Kumar, RP Singh,Pragyan Ojha, D Vijaykumar.
Chennai Super Kings: P.Patel (WK), S.Fleming, S.Raina, M.S.Dhoni (Captain), S.Badrinath, A.Morkel, A.Mukund/J.Sharma, L.Balaji, M. Muralitharan, M.Gony, M.Ntini.
When all seems to be lost for Rajasthan Royals the two young players from Royals came out as champion to win the game for them by five wickets. Chasing a comparative target for victory Royals found themselves in trouble at 77/5 when there all big guns back in the hurt and it seems that Mumbai Indians has almost covered the match until the 18th over. But the match certainly turn around whenR.Jadeja hit first ball of R.Raje for six over extra cover in the 19th over to bring down the equation to 26 runs of 11 balls.
The two left-handers picked 17 runs in the 19th over bowled by R.Raje to bring down the equation to 15 of 6 balls. The last over was given to D. Fernando who so far looked most impressive bowler from the Mumbai Indians in the match and with his international experience no one expected that he will bowl a wide when 3 runs needed of last ball. With the cool heads two younger players snatch the victory from the hands of Mumbai Indians.
Now Mumbai Indians will pray for Deccan Chargers to beat Chennai Super kings in their last league match to give Mumbai Indians hope of qualifying for the semifinals. The loss of Mumbai Indians to Rajasthan Royals gave Delhi Daredevils a ticket to qualify for the Semi Finals and now they are the third team to qualify.
Earlier Rajasthan Royals captain won the toss and put Mumbai Indians to bat. The wicket was too slow and both Mumbai Indians opener quick to realize that as they played cautiously till 11th over and they put on 71 runs for the first wicket. But both the openers Sachin Tendulkar (30 runs of 34 balls) and S.Jayasurya (38 runs of 37 balls) after working so hard in the middle got out on the bowling of S.Trivedi.
After dismissal of both openers Mumbai Indians batsman looks to up the run rate and in the process they only manage to get themselves out. Till the 19th over they were looking down and out at 120/7. But Y.Takawale played a blinder of inning of 24 runs of just 8 balls. He hammered S.Watson for as many as 25 runs in the last over to give his team a respectable total of 145/7 at the end of 20th over.
Sohail Tanvir once again was most impressive bowlers as he picked of 14/4 in his four over spell.
Mumbai Indians after loosing their last game to Delhi Daredevils now find themselves in a must win situation when they take on Rajasthan Royals. But it will be very difficult task for Sachin Tendulkar and his men since Rajasthan Royals haven’t lost a single game at home and most important thing they are on a role at the moment.
When the last time these two teams mate Mumbai Indians able to beat Rajasthan Royals quite comprehensively by 7 wickets. Now they need to repeat the same performance to alive their chances of making into the semi finals of IPL twenty20.
The Mumbai outfit is in a do-or-die situation as they have 12 points in their kitty from as many matches and two more victories will take them to a maximum of 16 points to ensure a berth in the semis.
Here is the scenario for Mumbai Indians for making into the last four. For Mumbai, currently on 12 points, two wins - against Rajasthan Royals and Bangalore Royal Challengers - will guarantee them a place in the semi-finals irrespective of what Chennai do. If they lose one, Chennai must suffer a reverse in their last game against Deccan. Also, Mumbai must ensure they do not lose by significant margins, or they could squander the net run-rate advantage they have over Chennai.
In case Mumbai win one and get one point from the other (if the match is abandoned), they will make the cut, while a loss and one point from the other or two losses will result in Chennai and Delhi joining Rajasthan and Kings XI Punjab in the semi-finals.
Player to Watch
Sanath Jayasurya: He found his form in good time when his team was in need and he must be eying a big score in a crunch game against Rajasthan Royals.
Sohail Tanvir: The Rajasthan Royals has a quality bowler but the bowler who performed consistently is Sohail Tanvir. He picked up wickets in each and every match in bulk and he must be eying to repeat his performance ofpast matches.
Pitch Report
Pitch at Jaipur is full of runs and always supported their home team whether they were bowling or batting. But the likes of S.Jayasurya and S.Tendulkar enjoy batting on beauty of wickets at Jaipur and they love to get big score for their team.
Team News
G.Smith is suffering from hamstring injury so he may be rested out as Royals don’t want to take any chances before the big games so he might be replaced by Younis Khan or Shane Watson. On the other hand Mumbai Indians looks settle with their squad although they have lost their last two games but they are unlikely to bring any changes in their playing XI.
Likely Playing XI for both the teams (Match will start from 20:00 PMIndia time)
Saurav Ganguly (86* runs of just 53 balls) pulls of a thriller to beat Kings XI Punjab by three wickets to end the roads of Kolkata Knight Riders in IPL 2008 on high note. Saurav Ganguly and Umar Gul (24 runs of 11 balls) partnership of 48 runs of just 17 balls guide his team to a victory which was looking way behind their reach at the end of 15th over.
Needing 72 runs to win in the last five overs with only five wickets in hand no one expected Kolkata Knight Riders to win from here. In the 16th over they lost another wicket in the face of A. Chopra which pushed their chances of winning the games even further beyond their reach, but in the same over Umar Gul who just arrives to the crease smashed two huge sixes of J. Hopes over to pull down the required rate to 13 an over.
In the 17th over Sauarav Ganguly open his arm to hit two huge sixes and a boundary of Piyush Chawla over to bring up his 3rd half century of IPL. Kolkata Knight Riders in the process lost Umar Gul for well made 24 runs. But Saurav kept his nerves till the end and smashed 15 runs in the last over which was bowled by I. Pathan to pull off a sensational win over Kings XI Punjab by three wickets.
Chasing a target of 175 runs for victory Kolkata Knight Riders got of to good start as their openers put on 45 runs for the first wicket in just 5 overs. But two wickets in two balls by S. Sreesanth put them on back foot and thereafter they kept loosing wickets at regular intervals.
Earlier Yuvraj Singh won the toss and decided to bat first and once again S. Marsh (40 runs of 31 balls) and K. Sangkara (64 runs of 45 balls) played brilliantly and put on 78 runs for the 2nd wicket before D. Mendis playing his first IPL match get rid of dangerous looking S. Marsh. In the end Yuvraj Singh (27 runs of 18 balls) and M.Jayawardne (11 runs of 10 balls) chipped in with quick run to guide their team to a highest total of 175/6 in Eden garden.
Umar Gul was most impressive bowlers as he picked up four wickets during Kings XI Punjab inning.
With all lost for Kolkata Knight Riders now they will be looking to selvedge some pride in front of their home crowd. So far they look rusty in the tournament wit the bat apart from their first game against Royal Challengers and one that they played against Deccan Chargers. On the other hand Kings XI Punjab already qualified for the semi finals but they will be looking to keep their winning momentum going.
Kings XI Punjab looks in superb touch throughout the tournament except the first two games they have played. Kings XI Punjab have put up an all-round good show in the tournament, riding on a collective effort by their players. In the batting department, Australian Shaun Marsh, Sri Lankan Kumar Sangakkara and skipper Yuvraj Singh have been the mainstays for the Punjab side.
Kings XI Punjab not only has strong batting line up they also have some quality bowling line ups which can rattle any team on a given day, with the likes of S.Sreesanth, I.Pathan and P.Chawla. So far P.Chawla impressed everyone with his all round performance.
Kolkata Knight Riders may look to win this match in front of their home crowd to give something to cheer for their fans in their last outing in IPL 2008.
Player to Watch
K.Sangkara: After missing the few matches on trout he came back with an excellent knock of 25 balls 50 against Deccan Chargers other night so he will look to continue his same form against Knight Riders also.
D.Hussey: He has not done well except for two-three matches but he is match winner for Western Australia and he would like to end his IPL 2008 on a good note.
Pitch Report
EdenGarden wicket will be slow and low so any score around 160-170 runs will be comparative and team win the toss will look to bat first.
Team News
Kolkata Knight Riders may bring T.Taibu in place of Md. Hafeez who has performed well below the expectation in his eight outings in the middle. They may also replace A.Agarkar with young spinner I.Abdulla but rest of team will be same. Kins XI Punjab may decide to rest their key players S.Marsh for today game and play J.Hopes in place of him. I.Pathan may also include in place of G.Singh.
Likely Playing XI for both the teams (Match will start from 20:00 PMIndia time)
It was an all round effort from the Kings XI Punjab that gave them their ninth victory of the tournament. First they manage to restrict the Deccan Chargers to 175/4 and then with some cool headed batting they pull of last over win over Deccan Chargers.
Needing 176 runs for victory Kings XI Punjab got of to flying start with Kumar Sangkara (50 runs of 25 balls) and S.Marsh (60 runs of 44 balls) put on 84 runs for the first wicket in just 7.4 overs. The first breakthrough came on the bowling of Rohit Sharma when K.Sangkara tried to hit him out of the park but in the end manage a simple catch to long of.
After the departure of K.Sangkara, Kings XI Punjab kept their required rate in check in between Deccan Chargers did manage to pick up some crucial wickets in the middle of Yuvraj Singh (17 runs of 15 balls) and L. Pomersbach (13 runs of 12 balls). But in the end some cool heade batting by young leg-spinner Piyush Chawla (16 runs of 9 balls) and M.Jayawardne (14 runs of 10 balls) guided their team to yet another victory.
Earlier Yuvraj Singh won the toss and put Deccan Chargers into bat. First time in the tournament H.Gibbs shows some sign of getting back into the form as he smashed44 runs of just 34 balls and put on 79 runs for the first wicket with A.Gilchrist (50 runs of 42 balls). Rohit Sharma also made quick fire 50 runs of just 34 balls but no batsman able to carry their momentum till the end of their innings and they manage just 175/4 in their 20 overs. All the credit goes to Kings XI Punjab spinners P.Chawla and R.Powar who bowled wicket to wicket in the middle overs and kept Deccan Chargers run rate in control.
S.Marsh was declared Man of the Match.
Match Summary
Deccan Chargers– 175/4 in 20 Overs
R.Sharma– 50A.Gilchrist – 50
R.Pawar– 4-0-20-1S.Sreesanth– 4-0-29-1
Kings XI Punjab– 178/4 in 19.3 Overs
S.Marsh– 60 K.Sangkara- 50
P.Ojha– 4-0-30-2R.Sharma– 4-0-25-1
Today’s Match
Match1: Rajasthan Royals Vs Chennai Super Kings (16:00 hrs 1st)
Match2: Mumbai Indians Vs Delhi Daredevils (20:00 hrs 1st)
The wash out of Delhi Daredevils and Kolkaat Knight Riders gave a certain spot for Kings XI in the semi finals and now they will play a freedom game with some experiments before the big game. However they may have to play good cricket to beat Deccan Chargers who has the players of match winning capability but they haven't performed as unit in a match. So they will be playing for pride.
Today's match may also get affected by rain and we may see 15 or 13 over a side game. When last time these two teams played each other in Hyderabad, Kings XI Punjab won the match quite comprehensively by seven wickets on the back of Shaun Marsh's unbeaten half-century. Languishing at the bottom of the points table with just two wins from 11 matches so far, Chargers have lost hopes of making it to the semis but they would be anxious to salvage a win here.
The Kings XI Punjab who had beaten Mumbai Indians in their last game by 1 runs is quite confident of winning the battles against Deccan Chargers in their home ground.
Player to Watch
S.Marsh and Luke Pomersbach: The two Australians are looking in superb touch after they have joined the IPL and will look to continue their good form to get their team winning momentum going.
R.P.Singh and S.Sreesanth: S.Sreesanth except last match performed well with the new ball and given his team a fine start so far and he will be in the race for purple cap. At presently R.P.Singh the most wicket taking bowler of the IPL tournament hold the purple cap.
Pitch Report
Due to rain in the air the pitch at Mohali will assist swing bowlers with the new balls. Otherwise it will be good wicket to bat and team batting first will look to set the target of around 170 runs,
Team News
Kings XI Punjab after securing their birth in the semi finals now may look to experiment a bit by bringing Pankaj Dhirmani in place of Uday Kaul and in bowling department they may include another bowler in the face of Gagandeep Singh. On the other hand Deccan Chargers may opt for one change by bringing Sarvesh Kumar in place of expensive N.Zoyasa.
Likely Playing XI for both the teams (Match will start from 20:00 PMIndia time)
Deccan Chargers: Adam Gilchrist (Cpat & WK), Shahid Afridi, Rohit Sharma, Chamara Silva, Venugopal Rao, D Ravi Teja, Sarvesh Kumar, Halhadhar Das, RP Singh,Pragyan Ojha, D Vijaykumar.
Kings XI Punjab: Shaun Marsh, James Hopes, Luke Pomersbach, Yuvraj Singh (Capt), Mahela Jayawardene, Irfan Pathan, Pankaj Dharmani (wk), Gagandeep Singh, Piyush Chawla, S.Sreesanth, VRV Singh.
Delhi Daredevils will look to take revenge as well as alive their chances of making it to the last four when they will take on Kolkata Knight Riders at Feroz Shah Kotla stadium in the 47th match of IPL twenty20.
So far only two teams has cemented their place in the last four and the battle for third and fourth place is now open after the loss of Chennai Super Kings against Royal Challengers Bangalore and Mumbai Indians loss against Kings XI Punjab.
Kolkata Knight Riders chances of making into the semi finals is difficult but not impossible, if they were able to win their remaining matches and if others team lost their remaining matches then they will still go through. However first they must win their matches to give them outside chance to making it to the Semi Finals.
Delhi Daredevils have two dashing openers and they are in prime form so once again all depends on how V. Sehwag and G. Gambhir will play. Since we have seen whenever these two failed to deliver Delhi Daredevils have lost the match. On the other hand Kolkata Knight Riders has big problem at their top orders and they didn’t get the start they were looking for and in the end they fall short by 15-20 runs from setting a winning target.
The game is a do or die encounter for both the Daredevils and the Knight Riders. But the frustrated things is both teams may have to share points due to rain around in Delhi. In the case of a washout Delhi will have to share a point with Kolkata and that will adversely effect their chances in the tournament. Then Delhi will have to win their last game against Mumbai Indians but even so their fate will depend on the other results in the tournament.
So they must get solid start in the today’s crucial match if they would like to challenge the fire power of Delhi batting lineups.
Player to Watch
G. Gambhir and Virendra Sehwag: Both openers are in prime form and if they able to stay for 7-10 overs at the crease then they can able to easily achieve the win for his team which we have already seen in the last match against Royal Challengers Bangalore.
Shoaib Akhtar: Last time when these two teams mate Shoaib was on fire, he bowled a match winning spell to shatter the Delhi Daredevils batting lineups. So we can expect something like that from him in today’s crunch encounter.
Pitch Report
So far at Feroz Shah Kotla we have seen high scoring game in every match played here, so it will be no surprise if we see another 180 plus score for today’s game. Any team batting first would like to post 180 plus score to challenge the opposition.
Team News
Delhi Daredevils will most likely bring A.Mishra for today’s game in place of P.Sangwan since he has taken hat-trick against Deccan Chargers in the same ground. On the other hand Kolkata Knight Riders will also likely to make few changes by bringing S.Akhtar in place of A.Agarkar and C.Pujara in place of Md. Hafeez.
Likely Playing XI for both the teams (Match will start from 20:00 PMIndia time)
