As the tournament prepares itself for the grand finale, two of the main protagonists in the play, defending champions Deccan Chargers and previous year’s runner-ups, Royal Challengers Bangalore will feature in the 46th game of the IPL at Nagpur.
Deccan are currently at the second-last position in the table, with ten points from eleven games, but rather surprisingly, Bangalore, which is second in the table is only two points in front of them. This means that if Deccan win (11/10 at Blue Square), they will be up with Bangalore in the points table. On the other hand, a Bangalore win (4/5 at Boylesports) will almost see them through to the semi-final.
The Chargers have had a couple of excellent wins under their belt, thanks mainly due to the successive half centuries by T Suman (5/1 at Sky Bet to top-score for his side). He was a virtually unknown face in the tournament so far, but with the excellent batting going his way, one can be rest assured that the opposition will target him in the game. This makes it doubly important to the man out of form, Adam Gilchrist (3/1 at Sky Bet to top-score for Deccan) to fire in the game, as does the fact that Rohit Sharma (9/2 at Blue Square to be the best batsman) needs to bat through the innings as well.
The toss-up, for me, is between continuing with a winning combination and having Dwayne Smith (12/1 at Boylesports) in the side or bringing Herschelle Gibbs back (4/1 at Blue Square, both, to top-score for their side). Difficult choice to make and Gilly will need to do much thinking about the same.
The Bangalore batting has been on a roll. Robin Uthappa (6/1 at Sky Bet to top-score the Bangalore innings) has been in the form of his life, whereas Rahul Dravid’s (6/1 at Sky Bet to be the best batsman for Bangalore) half century in the previous game seals his berth at the number three position. With Ross Taylor (5/1 at Ladbrokes to be the best for his side) having come in with a huge reputation but yet to come good, and Kevin Pietersen (9/2 at Blue Square) still sitting out, it does mean that Cameron White (8/1 at Sky Bet, both to top-score for their side) has to play his first big knock in the IPL so far, to be able justify his selection. Just might be his day! If he plays, that is!
Tips:
Favourites: Deccan Chargers (11/10 at Blue Square)
Top Deccan batsman: Rohit Sharma (9/2 at Blue Square)
Top Bangalore batsman: Cameron White (8/1 at Sky Bet)