Indian Premier League and Cricket News by IPL Cricket Forum

Editorial - Mohit Goyal:

Bangalore Royal Challengers v Kings XI Punjab at Bangalore

Kings have won four on the trot while Challengers’ bowlers had a superb outing in their win over Deccan Chargers. It seems to be all set for a mouth watering clash in this Indian Premier League match toady.

Men at the Helm

Yuvraj is very aggressive while Rahul is cool and calm. Yuvraj has shown vulnerability in pressure situations as in the match against Knight Riders when Hussey and Saha had clubbed a few out of the ground while Dravid hasn’t been as innovative as some of the other captains on seen.

We have the bat

Punjab’s batters, the likes of Marsh, Hopes and Yuvraj look better suited for the shortest version of the gentlemen’s game but a slightly dodgy pitch at Chinnaswamy like the other day in the match against Chargers could sway the match in Challengers’ favor with Jaffer, Kallis and Dravid lining up.

We have the ball

Bangalore’s balling unit looks much stronger than Punjab but Kallis has been struggling big time while Pathan has come good for Kings XI. It is also being seen as the battle of the two Indian left armers, Zaheer and Pathan, who are the leading wicket takers in the league as of now. It only lets us keep wondering what if Lee was still here, Lee v Steyn!

Patrolling Party

Fielding throughout the tournament has been of the highest standards. Challengers Kohli, Jaffer and Dravid and Yuvraj and Marsh for Punjab probably make it to the five best catches of the league as yet. What more can one ask for?

High on betting meter

Punjab are high on betting meter with odds of about 4 to 5 on 7 while Bangalore have odds of about 10 to 11 on 8. But it looks like a still tighter fight.

Who gets the tick?

Both pans of the balance hang at similar heights. It will require a very big score from Punjab or a charismatic balling performance from Bangalore to tilt it on one side.

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Shane Warne leads his team again to another victory defeating the Knight Riders by a decent margin of 45 Runs. Shane won the toss and decided to bat first in the scorching heat of 40 deg probably with a thought that the visitors will be worn out after fielding below the sun.

Rajasthan Royals just seem to be getting better with every match. For the Knight Riders, Ganguly and Hussey put on a good partnership but they couldn’t score at a brisk pace. It seemed he was mostly there to protect his wicket more than scoring.

While Shane Warne is coming into every match with specific strategies and with team fully charged up, Knight Riders seemed to be disoriented and a team lacking proper strategy. Its only a hope that each team realizes the true spirit of 20Twenty Cricket and work out specific plans before a match.

After Ganguly and Hussey the team fell like a heap of cards with a total of 151. Swapnil Asnodkar picked up the Man of the Match Award with 60 runs off 34 balls in which he scored 10 boundaries and one over boundary.

Rajasthan Royals: 196/7 (20.0 Ovs)
Kolkata Knight Riders: 151-all out (19.1 Ovs)