Kingsmead in Durban will host the 16th match of the tournament between the Deccan Chargers and the Chennai Super Kings.

Deccan Chargers have won all their opening three matches, where as Chennai has won one match, lost two and has had one game abandoned due to rain.

Deccan Chargers were one of the teams which wasn’t favourites to win the tournament, but is now second favourite (37/10 at Betfair to win IPL) to do so; only a week into the tournament!

On the other hand, Chennai’s chances have been greatly dented by their start to the IPL which has seen them with only three points in four matches. They are currently fourth-favourite (5/1 at Betfair) behind Mumbai to take home the ‘silver’-ware.

Between the two teams, the Chargers are operating as a well-oiled unit under the leadership Adam Gilchrist, undoubtedly helped by the return to form of R.P. Singh (9/2 at Stan James to be most economic bowler) and boosted by the presence of their foreign import for this year, Fidel Edwards (4/1 at Stan James to be most economic bowler). But their greatest strength has been the presence of the very under-rated left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha (4/1 at Stan James to be most economic bowler of the match) who has relished bowling on the spinner-friendly, almost like-home conditions. I won’t put it beyond him to emerge as one of the most effective bowlers of the tournament.

The batting has revolved around three of their top-order batsmen; Gilchrist (11/4 Boyle Sports to be top DC scorer), Herschelle Gibbs (11/4 at 888Sport to be top DC scorer) and Rohit Sharma (9/2 Blue Square to be top DC batsman). What may worry Gilchrist is that not too many of the middle and lower-middle order batsman have got a hit in the middle – the match against Mumbai saw the latter half of the team capitulate in a heap – and that could spell some problem for the Chargers. Despite that, it is difficult to visualise too many changes in the batting order from the Chargers.

Chennai’s problems have continued even off-the-field as they have lost Andrew Flintoff for the rest of the tournament to injury. While Mathew Hayden (5/2 888Sport to be top CSK batsman) continues to be the favourite to smash the bowling at the top order, it is almost inhuman to expect him to continue to give the kind of starts he has in the previous games. The others will need to step up a gear in order to get the Super Kings a momentum in the tournament.

Albie Morkel (9/1 at 888Sport to be top CSK batsman) has been batting way down the order, while the hard-hitting Murali Vijay hasn’t been given a chance yet. The Super Kings will need to rethink the batting accordingly; probably even having an M.S. Dhoni (5/1 Paddy Power to be top CSK batsman) himself at number three.

With Flintoff out, L.Balaji (9/2 at Stan James to be most economic) – who had impressed in the previous game against the DareDevils – will look to spearhead the bowling, with able support expected from Morkel, Jacob Oram and Muthiah Muralitharan (7/2 at Stan James to be most economic bowler)
Tip:
Team: Chennai Super Kings (10/11 at Sky Bet)
Top Batsman (Chennai): M.S. Dhoni (5/1 at Paddy Power)
Top Batsman (Deccan Chargers): Adam Gilchrist (11/4 at Boyle Sports)
Most Economic Bowler: R.P. Singh (9/2 at Stan James)