[1]The Deccan Chargers will be pumped up to put the law of averages in place when they taken on Rajasthan Royals in their den at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium, on Tuesday.
Chargers are the only team yet to register themselves on the points table, and going by the ups and downs witnessed so far in this early stage of the IPL-5, they must be pretty charged up, especially after a week-long break.
The Royals, on the other hand will count on their trump card Ajinkya Rahane. The 23-year-old has been prolific in this edition with a stupendous unbeaten ton against the Royal Challengers Bangalore on Sunday.
Add to that the form that Englishman Owais Shah displayed on Sunday, the Chargers’ bowlers will have to come out firing on all cylinders.
The Chargers had two tough opening games that pitted them against the defending champions Chennai Super Kings and narrowly lost the match to Mumbai Indians.
The break would have helped the Kumar Sangakkara-led side to regroup and the bunch will be keen to perform as a unit.
The batsmen need to get into the scoring mode quickly and get rid of the habit of frittering away good starts. Shikhar Dhawan, Cameron White, Daniel Christian and skipper Sangakkara himself will need to apply themselves better in pressure situations.
Their bowlers, barring Steyn, have at best been restrictive. The likes of Manpreet Gony and Amit Mishra have to stand up to the challenge of facing a team on the upswing and deliver.
Royals, however, begin as favourite after winning both their games here so far. Added to this fact is that Sunday night’s performance against the Challengers would have injected a new sense of self belief in them.
With skipper Rahul Dravid and Rahane providing a good start on most occasions, the middle order including Brad Hodge and Ashok Menaria have ensured the final push towards the end of the innings.
Their bowling may be devoid of big names but Sidhartha Trivedi, Amit Singh, Kevon Cooper and Pankaj Singh have stuck to the task pretty well.
Key players
* Dale Steyn for Deccan Chargers
SA pace spearhead had two impressive outings and has picked up five wickets while being highly economical. Steyn’s fiery pace is always a threat and he will be man the Chargers will look up to enthuse some substance in their campaign.
* Ajinkya Rahane for Rajasthan Royals
Royals have the current orange cap holder in the Mumbaikar and he has hit a purple patch in the season with a century and two half centuries from five matches. Rahane only missed out in the second match against Kings XI.
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