Resurgent teams look to continue winning

The last time this rematch of last year's final happened, both the teams were languishing in middle-and-lower part of the points table. Things have changed since then. Chennai Super Kings have won four on the trot, including that rematch. Rajasthan Royals have come back from that defeat with three straight victories, and now both teams are the joint leaders.

Given the tight nature of the event, we will surely have a new leader by the time Chennai and Rajasthan face each other again tomorrow, the second game of the day. Then again we might not if Delhi Daredevils and Deccan Chargers both lose their matches. But what's certain is that both Chennai and Rajasthan will be in the top four. What's also certain is - more importantly - that by the end of tomorrow, the teams closest to them will have matches in hand. In that light, it's needless to say how important two points will be for both the teams.

Form guide (completed matches, most recent first)

Chennai: WWWWL
After describing his batting form as "pathetic", MS Dhoni has now become part of a dangerous Chennai trinity, the other two being Matthew Hayden and Suresh Raina. Between them they have scored 895 runs, the rest have scored 391.

Rajasthan: WWWLW
In two matches Amit Singh has taken seven wickets at four runs per wicket and has given away runs at 3.5 an over. But as with Rajasthan's earlier prodigy Kamran Khan, Amit's action is also under suspicion.

Watch out for

Murali v Yusuf: Like Warne v Hayden, this one is a crucial sub-plot to this drama. Main batsman v main spinner, that's where the difference could lie.

Team news

Chennai, despite their winning streak, have two missing links in their piece: the opening pace bowler (Manpreet Gony is not fitting that role) and the opener along with Hayden (S Badrinath was tried last game, and scored a golden duck). But the bright side is that ever since Badrinath has moved up the order - and has thus got a few balls to play himself in - he has played an important anchor role in the middle order.

Chennai: (probable) 1 S Badrinath/M Vijay/Parthiv Patel, 2 Matthew Hayden, 3 Suresh Raina, 4 MS Dhoni (capt. & wk), 5 Albie Morkel, 6 Jacob Oram/George Bailey, 7 Shadab Jakati, 8 Sudeep Tyagi, 9 L Balaji, 10 Manpreet Gony/Joginder Sharma/extra batsman, 11 Muttiah Muralitharan.

It's unlikely Rajasthan will drop Amit. Lee Carseldine, Naman Ojha and Abhishek Raut have been good additions late in the season. It should be touch and go between Morne Morkel, who got his first game when he played against Royal Challengers Bangalore, and Dimitri Mascarenhas.

Rajasthan: (probable) 1 Graeme Smith, 2 Naman Ojha (wk), 3 Lee Carseldine, 4 Yusuf Pathan, 5 Ravindra Jadeja, 6 Niraj Patel, 7 Abhishek Raut, 8 Shane Warne (capt.), 9 Dimitri Mascarenhas/Morne Morkel, 10 Amit Singh, 11 Munaf Patel.

Kings XI Punjab look to bounce back against Deccan Chargers

After suffering two consecutive losses, Kings XI Punjab will be looking to bounce back when they face Deccan Chargers in the Indian
Premier League (IPL) at the De Beers Diamond Oval on Saturday.

With just five matches in hand, time is running out for sixth-placed Kings XI, who have eight points. Deccan Chargers, however, are well placed as they have played one match less than Kings XI and are placed fourth with 10 points.

If Kings XI Punjab want to make the last four, they cannot afford to lose against Deccan Chargers.

"We have to win 100 per cent of our matches and that's not easy," Kings XI skipper Yuvraj Singh said.

Both teams will be clashing for the first time in the league and both will be looking to a score a point.

But problems are aplenty for Kings XI. Yuvraj admitted that there are some concerns for his team.

Yuvraj, who carried his bat with an unbeaten 58 in Thursday's defeat against Chennai Super Kings, said that the bowlers are letting the team down.

"Our bowling remains a major problem for us, especially bowling at the death. We have to sort out these issues," he said.

On his performance, Yuvraj said: "I'm not happy with myself either. I think I too need to brush up my game."

Deccan Chargers, who are one of the favourites to win the title in this second edition of the IPL, are riding high after their win over Mumbai Indians.

Deccan Chargers skipper Adam Gilchrist and South African Herschelle Gibbs are in good touch while Rohit Sharma and T. Suman have strengthened the middle-order.

The return of Australian all-rounder Andrew Symonds, who has been cleared by his board, will surely boost the Deccan Chargers.

'We need to win all remaining games to qualify for semis': Sachin

With only three wins out of nine matches, Mumbai Indians find themselves at a lowly seventh spot in the IPL points table, and skipper Sachin Tendulkar admitted that from here on his side will have to win all their remaining matches to be in the fray for the semi-finals.
Mumbai Indians slumped to their third consecutive defeat last night when Delhi Daredevils humiliated them by seven wickets here and the master blaster said not putting enough runs on the board has become a major worry for the side.

"Well I think whatever games are remaining we have to win them all. We have been pushed to the corner and we will have to start to put up some descent totals," Tendulkar said.

"I think we didn't scored many runs on the board but the bowling department was very good. So the basic problem is not having enough runs on the board," he added.

He, however, lauded his bowlers for their gutsy display against Daredevils and making a match out of the paltry total.

"I don't think if you score 117 runs and still make a good match out of it and I think we were pretty much there in the match. Our bowling and fielding were disciplined. Sometimes things just don't click for you," he said.

"It is always good to have big totals on the board but I think the positive of the game for us was that we were able to push the game to the 19th over. The spinners did a fantastic job. And they brought us back into the game."

Beer trouble for Shane Warne; will IPL bear?

Rajasthan Royals skipper Shane Warne’s antic of having a sip of beer during the IPL match has created lot of controversies in the cricketing circle.

Though consumption of alcohol by a player while a game is on may not come under anti-doping rules governed by WADA and practised by the International Cricket Council but for most, the act has hurt the spirit of the gentleman’s game.

Shane Warne, who was involved in lot of controversies during his playing days, went against the `spirit` of the game when he decided to take a quick sip from a glass of beer offered by a fan when his team, Rajasthan Royals. Warne was walking out to field after the first strategy break in the game against the Royal Challengers on Thursday.

Though the incident was shown on TV, the IPL governing body seemed to have decided not to take up the matter further as there was no official statement in this regard.

Warne has been having a great run in IPL as his team is winning most of the matches. A few sips of beer simply added needless debate for his team which has recently been dogged by the issue of suspect bowling actions.

Victory takes Daredevils top of IPL

The Delhi Daredevils surged to the top of the Indian Premier League (IPL) after crushing the Mumbai Indians by seven wickets on Friday.

Delhi's sixth win in eight matches moved them one point clear of the Chennai Super Kings and the Rajasthan Royals. Mumbai are second from bottom in the table and in danger of missing out on the semi-finals.

After skittling Mumbai for 116, the Daredevils scored 118 for three with seven balls to spare.

Delhi's victory was built around a third-wicket stand of 61 between AB de Villiers and Tillakaratne Dilshan (17).

De Villiers hit an unbeaten 50 off 38 balls, the South African's second half-century of the tournament standing alongside one century.

Delhi also received a solid start thanks to a first-wicket partnership of 42 between David Warner (21) and Gautam Gambhir (19).

Warner fell to off-spinner JP Duminy, who returned the economical figures of one for 15 off four overs.

After winning the toss and electing to bat Mumbai slipped to 33 for four following two run-outs and a wicket apiece for left-arm swing bowler Dirk Nannes and seamer Rajat Bhatia.

West Indies all rounder Dwayne Bravo and left-handed Indian batsman Abhishek Nayar (18) then shared a fifth-wicket stand of 57 before the former was caught behind off Nannes for 35.
Bravo's dismissal sparked a collapse as Mumbai lost six wickets for 26 runs.

Bhatia returned career-best Twenty20 figures of three for 15.