Match Preview

Sunday, March 21, 2010

Upbeat Super Kings take on struggling Kings XI

Chennai Super Kings are set to host Kings XI Punjab in a crucial fixture as the Kings are the only team to not have won a single match so far.

The Chennai Super Kings are going into this match on the back of two away victories against Kolkata Knight Riders and Delhi Daredevils. Matthew Hayden had been quiet till the game against Delhi but found form at the right time after the team had already lost MS Dhoni to injury. Suresh Raina seemed to be hitting the ball nicely and went on to play a match winning knock. They will be expected to do the bulk of the scoring for the Super Kings but would hope to find better support from the likes of Badrinath and Justin Kemp. While the batting seems to be in place, an area of concern remains their bowling in the Extreme Performance overs.

For Kings XI Punjab this is a crucial tie. A defeat here would mean that they would have lost all four of their opening games, leaving themselves only an outside chance of making the semi-finals. The major reason for their downfall has been the failure of their three leading batsmen. Kumar Sangakkara, Yuvraj Singh and Mahela Jayawardena have failed to fire with the bat so far. Ravi Bopara has been their biggest success with two half centuries in the three games played so far. A lot would also be expected off the young, Adrian Barath. Despite S Sreesanth being in top form, the bowling unit has struggled as a whole and have failed to keep sides quiet in the Quick start as well as Extreme Performance overs.

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Chargers hoping to build on first home win

Deccan Chargers come into the match on the back of their first home victory and would be looking to improve that record when they host the Delhi Daredevils on Sunday.

The team from Hyderabad have bounced back after losing their first game in the opening encounter of the season against Kolkata. They often get off to a good start and are capable of getting the big score as they maintain a good Batting Momentum throughout the innings. They also have a decent bowling attack and have managed to peg oppositions back early on more than one occasion by picking up wickets in the Quick start overs. Their International contingent seems to be on top of their game with Adam Gilchrist, Andrew Symonds, Chaminda Vaas and Herschelle Gibbs all pitching in at the crucial stages. All in all they look to have found the right combination and would want to accumulate as many points as they can while the form lasts.

Delhi Daredevils on the other had the perfect start to the season and won their first two games of the comfortably, thanks to some brilliant performances from Gautam Gambhir, Virender Sehwag and Farveez Maharoof. However, the next two games turned out to be disasters as they lost to Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings in front of their home crowd. The Daredevils need to get their act together and score some points to get out of the bottom half of the table. Their strength lies in their batting but AB de Villiers, Tillakaratne Dilshan and David Warner have failed to fire so far. Another key area of concern is their bowling in the Quick start overs as well as the Extreme Performance overs which need to improve considerably.

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