Bangalore, Rajasthan look for redemption (Preview)

Bangalore and Rajasthan have had to go through a similar kind of losing phase last week. Both the teams are on a slide after having a god start to the tournament. While Bangalore kick started their IPL, 2011 campaign with a comprehensive win over Kochi and Rajasthan registering two victories on a trot to make a strong statement to the opponents.

All that came to halt with Bangalore having to taste a hat trick of defeats and performance of Shane Warne led Rajasthan also nose-dived as they were beaten by Kolkata at home and away. For both sides having enough arsenal to beat any side in the tournament, a shabby show last week should worry their respective team managements with players continuing to make same mistakes.

Bangalore has simply been outplayed in all of the three games and Kolkata, after putting a clinical batting effort to chase down a tricky score 159 at away fixture, folded abject Rajasthan to a paltry 81.

Nothing seems to be going as per the plans for the both teams.

For Bangalore it is a case of bowlers dishing out too much hittable stuff, fielders not backing their bowlers up dropping crucial catches and giving away too many runs in the out-filed and batsmen not able to find a way to occupy crease and be aggressive at the same time.

There is too much reliance on Zaheer Khan and skipper Daniel Vettori in bowling as local recruits have gone for plenty failing to make an impression.

Same is the case in batting as failure of Tillakaratne Dilshan, AB de Villiers and Virat Kohli to fire with the bat means there are no big runs on the board. Team management would be keen to have these problems addressed in Rajasthan game and get back to winning ways.

Rajasthan’s bowling effort in the games they lost hasn’t been so bad but batsmen have thrown their wickets away after getting good starts. The batsmen simply haven’t applied themselves in both the games against Kolkata with big guns Shane Watson and Ross Taylor yet to set IPL on fire and there haven’t been many runs on the board to defend.

It would need team an inspirational captaincy from Warne to lift his side from the two match slump.For that to happen he needs a good support from his bowling colleagues and big runs from Watson and company. There will be some experience added to Rajasthan lineup as Rahul Dravid and Johan Botha who both missed the previous game due to injuries are expected to be back in the playing eleven.

With Bangalore traditionally a batting friendly track and full of runs, a tough day is expected for the bowlers and an intense battle is expected between Warne and company and powerful batting unit.

BANGALORE

Players who can make impact…

AB de Villiers…One of the best batsmen going around, South African AB has turned out to be highest run scorer in the tournament so far. He is scored at a brisk rate and will be required to put up another dynamic performance with the bat to change Bangalore’s fortunes. He adds flexibility to the batting order by donning gloves behind the stumps.

Johan van der Wath…Big hitting all-rounder from South Africa is known for clearing the boundary easily but is yet to display that ability in India. He can change the course of any game with the bat and can use both new ball and old to a good effect.

Squad

AB de Villiers, Abhimanyu Mithun, Abrar Kazi, Arun Karthik, Asad Pathan, BN Barath, Charl Langeveldt, Cheteshwar Pujara, Daniel Vettori (c), Dirk Nannes, Johan van der Wath, Jonathan Vandiar, Luke Pomersbach, Mayank Agarwal, Mohammad Kaif, Muralidharen Gautam, Nuwan Pradeep, Raju Bhatkal, Rilee Rossouw, Ryan Ninan, Saurabh Tiwary, Sreenath Aravind, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Virat Kohli ,Zaheer Khan

RAJASTHAN

Players who can make impact…

Shane Warne…Even at this age former Australian spin wizard is able to give it a tweak and land most of them in the right areas. In all the four games played so far, opposition batsmen haven’t been able to get after him and Warne has bamboozled them with his variations and big leg spin of his.An intriguing battle is on cards as AB and co. who like to use their feet against spinners will be up against spin prowess of Warne, the legend.

Ross Taylor…Another top buy yet to score big runs, Ross Taylor would be keen to make best use of batting friendly conditions of Bangalore to hit them big and long. And, he is the ability to tear apart any bowling lineup in the tournament and he would wish that Tuesday sees some fireworks from his bat.

SQUAD

Aakash Chopra, Abhishek Raut, Aditya Dole, Ajinkya Rahane, Amit Paunikar, Amit Singh, Ankeet Chavan, Ashok Menaria, Deepak Chahar, Dinesh Salunkhe, Dishant Yagnik, Faiz Fazal, Johan Botha, Nayan Doshi, Pankaj Singh, Pinal Shah, Rahul Dravid, Ross Taylor, Samad Fallah, Shane Warne (c), Shane Watson, Shaun Tait, Siddharth Trivedi, Stuart Binny, Sumit Narwal, Swapnil Asnodkar