Battle of batting heavyweights (Preview)

Before their clash against Punjab, Delhi, heavily packed with fast bowlers, had complained that the slow pitches at Ferozshah Kotla were robbing them off a home advantage. Virender Sehwag, Delhi skipper got his wish answered with curator deciding to leave some grass on the pitch. With some grass on it, pitch offered some bounce to the fast bowlers but proved to their undoing.

The pitch turned to be a haven for batsmen from the both side with encounter turning to be a high scoring affair. There was no joy for the bowlers from either side as ball travelled to stands on many occasions. It was home team Delhi which finally overpowered Punjab in the run fest for a welcome and confidence boosting win.

For Delhi, which was languishing at the bottom of the points table, Saturday’s win was very important for more than one reason. It gave them the first home victory this season and also would have instilled a kind of a belief that they are very much with a chance of going deep into the tournament.

Highly rated openers Sehwag and David Warner did no harm to their reputation as pair showed no mercy to Punjab bowlers getting team off to a blistering side. Explosive pair scored bulk of runs with breezy cameos from Venugopal Rao and Naman Ojha inspiring the home team to a mammoth total. Punjab did give some scary moments to them but Delhi had enough runs on board to survive Shaun Marsh blitz.

Sehwag and co. will be keen to keep the winning momentum going as they haven’t won much this season still stationed in the lower half of the points table. Team management would want more from their bowlers who are yet to contribute to the team cause.

Delhi’s highest buy and all-rounder Irfan Pathan has woefully looked out of form struggling for rhythm and swing which he was so effective with in his hey days. With pitch unlikely to change much, Delhi are expected to play with same pace battery it fielded against Punjab.

The contest with Bangalore will see a battle between the strong batting lineups as both sides boast of some of the fierce hitters of a cricket ball in their squad.

Bangalore’s welcome and impressive win against Kolkata at Eden Gardens turned out to be a Chris Gayle show who blasted his way to a whirlwind century in his first IPL match this season. It was just one of those innings where bowlers just went through their motions as West Indian left hander took Kolkata to cleaners to make look a stiff target easier one.

There is too much of dependence on Zaheer Khan and skipper Daniel Vettori as far as bowling department is concerned. Indian bowling spearhead Zaheer hasn’t been able to repeat his wicket taking form in the tournament so far and has leaked far too many runs for his and Bangalore’s liking.

It is very important for Bangalore’s fortunes in the tournament that local recruits, bowlers in particular, come to the party which they have miserably failed to do. Fielding needs to improve as well as run have been given away in the outfield and vital catches have also been dropped to add to Bangalore’s woes.

DELHI

Players who can make impact…

Virendar Sehwag…Dashing Indian and Delhi opener Sehwag knows only one way to play-see the ball and hit it if it is there to hit. He didn’t have a good tournament with the bat till Punjab game but all that changed when Delhi punished Punjab bowlers to score an aggressive 77. With him returning to the form, Bangalore needs to get him early otherwise he can take game away from the visitors.

Venugopal Rao…Mayn’t belong to same league as Sehwags and Warners do, but this stylish right hander has given a good account of himself this season by turning out to be consistent batsmen for Delhi. What has impressed one and all is ability to hit the long ball which was missing in his batting some years ago.

SQUAD

Aaron Finch, Aavishkar Salvi , Ajit Agarkar , Ajit Chandila , Andrew McDonald , Ashok Dinda , Colin Ingram, David Warner, Irfan Pathan, James Hopes, Matthew Wade (wk), Morne Morkel, Naman Ojha (wk), Prashant Naik, Rajesh Pawar, Robert Frylinck,Robin Bist, Roelof van der Merwe, Shahbaz Nadeem , Sridharan Sriram , Tejashwi Yadav, Travis Birt, Umesh Yadav, Unmukt Chand, Varun Aaron, Venugopal Rao, Vikas Mishra, Virender Sehwag(c), Vivek Yadav, Yogesh Nagar.

BANGALORE

Players who can make impact…

Daniel Vettori…Against the strong batting lineup of Delhi, left arm spinner Vettori needs to be at his best. He has the class, variations, control and temperament to provide his team with some vital breakthroughs. He needs to be at his best and also bring best out of young players to make inroads in Delhi bowling lineup.

Chris Gayle…A Gayle hurricane was on display against his old team Kolkata proving a point or two to West Indian selectors and to the IPL franchises as well who preferred not to pick him in the auction early this year. His lucky break came when Bangalore lost fast bowler Dirk Nannes to an injury and Bangalore decided to rope in Gayle. On a batting friendly Delhi wicket, Gayle punishing bowlers shouldn’t be a surprise.

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.