 The third place play-off of the third edition of the IPL will be played on Saturday
between Deccan Chargers and Royal Challengers Bangalore at the Dr
DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai. The Chennai Super Kings had beaten the Deccan
side, whereas Mumbai Indians easily got the better of Bangalore team.
Click for Live Score Card of Bangalore Royal Challengers Vs Hyderabad Deccan ChargersBoth the sides had met in the final of the previous year's IPL. Unfortunately,
both of them have lost in this season's semi-finals and that means that only
one of the two sides will go through to the Champions League T20. The top three
sides play in the Champions League T20 and this includes the two finalists
and the third placed side.
The Chennai Super Kings had given the Deccan Chargers a thrashing and this
was despite scoring only 140 odd in their game. The chief culprit for the Chargers'
loss was their inability at the top of the innings to go after the spinners
and that could continue being a problem in this game against the Bangalore side
as well. This is because the team does have Anil Kumble in their ranks
and there is a good chance that after their loss to Mumbai, they will also look
to get in another spinner in their side; something that they looked to have
missed in the semi-final.
For the Deccan side, their batting will need to fire really well, and one gets
the sense that Herschelle Gibbs who was drafted in for the semi-finals
could get an axe for this game for the manner in which he struggled at the crease.
The flamboyance was missing and so were the runs, and one gets the sense that
for this match a Dwayne Smith may be a better option.
Bangalore, in that sense is a much better balanced side. They have the batsmen
to show it, and the only thing they need for the top-order to bat as freely
as they have been in the rest of the tournament. Against Mumbai, the likes of
Pietersen and Uthappa got into the crease at a stage where the match looked
to be heading Mumbai's way and that made it really difficult for the side to
get anything out of the wicket.
In this match, it is evident that they cannot open with Jacques Kallis
and Rahul Dravid. It is time to get the big hitters on the top and even send
the now-struggling Kallis at number 4 or 5.
The bowling will need to regroup and as mentioned earlier, will need the captain
to probably get back Appanna or a Roelof van der Merwe into the side.
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