Deccan Chargers will look to play party-poopers for the Rajasthan Royals when the two sides meet in the 68th game of the Indian Premier League at Hyderabad.
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A Historical View:
The Deccan Chargers were the first team to crash out of the season and are currently on a five-match losing streak. However, they should have some motivation to try and win the remaining two games – a penultimate position could be theirs if they win both and Pune lose their last.
Rajasthan have 14 points from their 14 games and need two wins from their last two games to give themselves a playoffs chance. A loss here will end their campaign while even two wins may not guarantee their playoffs spot.
Rajasthan hold a 7-1 win-loss record against the Chargers.
Probable selection:
It has been a good, four-day break for the Rajasthan Royals, in which they would have taken cognizance of how the points table has panned out. The last time they played, they smacked a 170/4 in their 20 overs thanks to half-centuries from Ajinkya Rahane and Shane Watson and then had Ajit Chandila running through the Pune top-order, notching up the first hat-trick this season.
The Royals bowling, Chandila apart, had not much to do, but the likes of Watson, Shaun Tait and Johan Botha did a good job of keeping things under control and picking up wickets at regular intervals.
I don’t expect too much of a change to the line-up although there is news in some quarters that Tait was down with a bit of a stomach bug. If he misses out, the Royals could bring in Brad Hogg into the playing 11.
The Deccan Chargers may look to change their playing 11 around to afford more chances to the overseas players. With the kind of form that Kumar Sangakkara is in, it may not be a surprise if he drops himself out of the side yet again and allows the likes of JP Duminy and Juan Theron another opportunity.
It may not be a bad idea to see the pair of Dale Steyn and Theron bowl together, after all, it is their bowling which has struggled on most occasions.
IPL 2012 live options:
You can watch the Deccan Chargers v Rajasthan Royals IPL 2012 match
live online here. You can also watch the Deccan Chargers v Rajasthan Royals IPL 2012 live on Sony’s Set Max in India and ITV4 in the UK from 2.30 pm GMT on May 18.
