If the Chennai Super kings win today against the Kings XI Punjab, they will rise to the top of the table and if Punjab win they will move into the top four. In fact the competition right now in the DLF IPL 2009 is so close that there are changes made daily in pole positions, which leaders swiftly being deposed and relegated to the straggler’s category.

For the Chennai Kings the guy who has consistently given the team great starts is Matthew Hayden. Lower down the order come some of the big names in international cricket right now. There is Suresh Raina who has entertained with his shots and reassured with his consistency. Jacob Oram, who has not been able to show what he is made of, could yet come good. MS Dhoni himself hitting his stride will be exciting to watch. Albie Morkel who gave good support to his captain in their last match is someone else the team will be able to count on.

In the bowling department as well, S Tyagi, Morkel and Balaji have been doing the job very well, plus there is the wily Murali (Muttiah Muralitharan) to call upon. So it is a well balanced, confident and in form side that will be looking to get to the coveted top spot in the IPL today.

The Kings XI Punjab have a good side but have had their share of off days and bad luck. They also have a rather less than impressive looking bowling attack though S Sreesanth’s return to the team should bolster the bowling considerably. The team is aware, as Kumara Sangakkara wrote in his column in the cricket news that, they will have to improve their bowling dramatically if they are to think of beating the formidable Chennai batting line up.

The batting is not as much of a problem for Punjab, with key players like Sangakkara, Simon Katich, and DPMD Jayawardene to hold the fort. Yuvraj himself is coming good after some bad form in the initial matches. Ravi Bopara, who is playing well for England against the West Indies, will be missed. Another player who needs to fire for the team to do well is Irfan Pathan, he needs to get the early breakthrough for the team and needs to make those big shots that he has become quite famous for, along with his brother Yusuf.

Today’s should be a riveting contest as two Kings in their own right, Yuvraj and Dhoni take on one another at the Centurion.

Comments

Add New RSS

3.25 Copyright (C) 2007 Alain Georgette / Copyright (C) 2006 Frantisek Hliva. All rights reserved."

Newer news items:

Older news items: