The first semi-finals will see the two Australian sides, New South Wales Blues and Victorian Bushrangers play each other in a repeat of the KFC Big Bash T20 finals game. The match will be played at the Feroz Shah Kotla in Delhi and on a pitch where the scores are getting lesser and lesser.

One almost senses that there is a need for a new strategy to counter the low pitch at Delhi. The problem is that with bowlers like Brett Lee around, it is almost impossible to score off him and that makes it even more difficult when the opposition has to try to get runs off the other bowlers. This means that others like Stuart Clark, who are not as potent as Lee himself, can bowling good lines and lengths and get dished out some free wickets.

On the other hand, the wicket has already shown that the spinners can be handled much better than the quick bowlers, but if there are early loss of wickets then, even spinner become dangerous. In fact, even if the sides do not lose early wickets, but have a low scoring run-rate to begin with, then there is a bigger chance that they will end up losing wickets to slower bowlers later.

Both the sides, Victorian Bushrangers and NSW Blues will need to think through their strategies accordingly. In fact, both these strategies could be different in nature. For the Blues, they may want to go after the bowling to begin with and get around 40 runs in the six overs. After that, they can consolidate to reach 120, which could turn out to be a match-winning total. On the other hand, the Victorian side would do well to preserve their wickets against Lee, and look to pick up the loose balls at the other end. Doug Bollinger is the one bowler that the likes of Brad Hodge and Rob Quiney may try to target.

The one other change that the Victorians could make to their line-up is that they could have the captain Cameron White bat up the order. For far too long, he has been languishing down at five, and this could be his perfect opportunity to get there at three and stamp his authority instead. David Hussey has already shown that he is proficient enough to bat on such pitches and can be used to manoeuvre the bowling.

For the NSW Blues, they need to get their batting, after the openers, in place. An early wicket or two for the Blues could be interesting, especially now when Moises Henriques has had his confidence taken apart from some of the best hitting seen by Kieron Pollard. Difficult to call the winners!

Tag :- Brad Hodge   Brett Lee   Cameron White   David Hussey   Kieron Pollard   New South Wales Blues   Stuart Clark   Victorian Bushrangers