Royal Challengers Bangalore face a big task today when they take on Gujrat Lions at Rajkot. In fact both the teams can’t relax from today with only one victory in their kitty so far. The combinations they have tried have not given therm good results and today they need to pull up their socks to be in the semi-final race first and then think of making it to the finals. Well RCB were the finalists last last year, while the Loins in spite of their superb initial show failed in the last hurdle.
In the beginning Loins were keen on playing four specialists overseas batsmen and when the trick didn’t work out they tried Andre Tye and immediately got good results. Tye got five wickets in his very first match, which included a hat-trick. Their captain Raina is still not at his best and his consistency matters a lot for them, if they are serious of becoming champions. Brendon MeCcullum is not converting his good starts to big scores and he should realise how important is his form for them.
On the other hand RCB have been struggiling from the inaugural match they played in Hyderabad. First they missed Virat Kohli and now he is back with bang but Gayle’s bad form is worrying them. Well last year they fared badly in the beginning and then made a tremendous comeback to make it to the finals. But you can’t expect the things to repeat it for you everytime. So it is going to be a real test for both the teams today.
In yesterday’s matches, Sunrissers Hyderabad scored a thrilling win over Kings XI Punjab at Rajiv Gandhi international stadium. Captain Warner played a fine innings of 70 not out as the home team could put up a fighting 160 plus total on a wicket which was not good for playing strokes. In the chase, Kings struggled from the beginning losing Amla very first ball to Bhvaneshwar Kumar, who went onto pick up five wickets. Manan Vora with his brilliant batting brought Kings very close. But when they required 12 off last eight balls Vora was dismissed by Buvi and then it was all over for them.
In the first match, Kolkatta Knight riders overcame Delhi Daredevils in a match which also proved to be cliff-hanger.
Mahavaadi Sudeer– DD Commentator
