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Two sides hoping to turn it around

K.C. Vijaya Kumar

Royal Challengers and Deccan Chargers look to hit the right notes

— Photo: K. Bhagya Prakash

RUB-DOWN TIME: Rahul Dravid’s side hasn’t had it good so far and the former India captain will hope things change, starting with this match against Deccan Chargers.

Bangalore: A common script that has gone haywire needs to be corrected by both Royal Challengers Bangalore as well as Deccan Chargers as the teams gear up for the DLF Indian Premier League match at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium here on Saturday. Both teams are languishing at the bottom with only a lone victory and two points from five matches each, and this has left skippers Rahul Dravid and V.V.S. Laxman searching for answers as well as nursing fervent hopes that their teams’ fortunes would be reversed.

Dravid’s Royal Challengers has faltered at home with three consecutive losses and, except for the first match in which Brendon McCullum helped Kolkata Knight Riders impose itself on the tournament’s maiden night, the Bangalore outfit has largely self-destructed with inconsistent displays.

Dravid did flourish briefly against Delhi Daredevils, Jacques Kallis and Mark Boucher had their moments against Mumbai Indians and speedster Dale Steyn tested Chennai Super Kings’ Mathew Hayden but the individual nuggets have failed to churn up a consistent team display.

Ross Taylor’s mix of calm head and powerful shots will be missed at number three as he has left to join his New Zealand mates. Thankfully for Dravid, a fit Anil Kumble will return to the playing eleven in Saturday’s game and will bolster a bowling unit shepherded by Zaheer Khan and Steyn.

Underachieving

In the pre-tournament build-up, Deccan Chargers, with its explosive mix of Adam Gilchrist, Andrew Symonds, Herschelle Gibbs and Shahid Afridi, was expected to help skipper V.V.S. Laxman trample past rival camps. However, with the exception of a Gilchrist storm that helped the team defeat Mumbai Indians by ten wickets, nothing else has gone right for the team. Symonds has left to join his Australian teammates and his absence will be felt.

The bowling helmed by R.P. Singh and featuring Chaminda Vaas and Nuwan Zoysa, needs to stifle as well as scalp batsmen. The support cast of spinners in Pragyan Ojha and Shahid Afridi, and medium-pacer Sanjay Bangar also need to chip in for Deccan Chargers to turn around its fortunes.

But more than the bowling arm, the team needs the bludgeoning batting skills of Gilchrist, Gibbs and Afridi to take wing.

It is over to the two teams to hit the right notes on Saturday and, for the local fans hoping for a merry weekend, Rahul Dravid’s men need to reverse their slipping fortunes at home.

The teams: Royal Challengers Bangalore: Rahul Dravid (captain), Jacques Kallis, Mark Boucher (w-k), Wasim Jaffer, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Cameron White, Misbah-ul-Haq, Dale Steyn, Virat Kohli, S. Goswami, Abdur Razzak, Zaheer Khan, Praveen Kumar, Vinay Kumar, Sunil Joshi, B. Akhil, Devraj Patil and N.C. Aiyappa.

Deccan Chargers: V.V.S. Laxman (captain), Adam Gilchrist (w-k), Herschelle Gibbs, Shahid Afridi, Chaminda Vaas, Scott Styris, R.P. Singh, Rohit Sharma, Sanjay Bangar, Arjun Yadav, D. Kalyanakrishna, Pragyan Ojha, Chamara Silva, Nuwan Zoysa, D. Ravi Teja, Sarveesh Kumar, Venugopala Rao and P. Vijay Kumar.

Umpires: Billy Doctrove and Suresh Shastri. Match referee: Talat Aziz.

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