Read more! Sphere: Related Content Mixx it!

Pakistan V Australia 2009

Read more! Sphere: Related Content Mixx it!

Deccan Chargers v Kolkata Knight Riders, IPL, Cape Town

Kolkata bat in delayed game
After delays caused by rain and a floodlight failure, the final match of the weekend finally got underway nearly one-and-a-half hours behind schedule. In a game expected to be interrupted by showers, Kolkata Knight Riders' new captain Brendon McCullum, who provided that blistering start to the IPL last year, elected to bat.

Kolkata's batting has been boosted by the inclusion of Chris Gayle, who will be McCullum's opening partner, while deposed captain Sourav Ganguly and Brad Hodge round out a formidable top order. Moises Henriques also made his IPL debut, which means Ajantha Mendis missed out on a pitch where the spinners have played a big role so far.

Kolkata have rarely been away from the news during the build-up to the tournament, with flamboyant owner Shah Rukh Khan and John Buchanan's radical multiple-captain theory keeping the side firmly in the media glare. The Deccan Chargers, conversely, have had an extremely low-key run-in to the tournament.

Deccan's poor performance last season had a lot to do with the lack of incisive bowling, and they have tried to amend that by picking West Indian quick Fidel Edwards.

The pitch was kept under covers, but the area for the bowler's run-up was slippery, and remains a concern.

Teams

Deccan Chargers: 1 Adam Gilchrist (capt/ wk), 2 Herschelle Gibbs, 3 Ravi Teja, 4 VVS Laxman, 5 Rohit Sharma, 6 Venugopal Rao, 7 Scott Styris, 8 Pragyan Ojha, 9 RP Singh, 10 Harmeet Singh, 11 Fidel Edwards.

Kolkata Knight Riders: 1 Brendon McCullum (capt/wk), 2 Chris Gayle, 3 Sourav Ganguly, 4 Brad Hodge, 5 Aakash Chopra, 6 Moises Henriques, 7 Laxmi Ratan Shukla, 8 Ajit Agarkar, 9 Ishant Sharma, 10 Ashok Dinda, 11 Murali Kartik.

Read more! Sphere: Related Content Mixx it!

Delhi Daredevils to face Kings XI Punjab

Cape Town: Sehwag's Delhi Devils will clash with Yuvraj's Kings XI Punjab in the third match of the IPL Season two on Sunday.

Both teams were semi-finalists in the inaugural season of the IPL but both stumbled at the penultimate hurdle.

Delhi Dare Devils have emerged as the hot favourites in the tournament as they possess an outstanding batting line up. All of the Delhi's top batsmen like captain Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, David Warner and South African AB de Villiers are in terrific form.

Aussies veteran Glen McGrath will spearhead the bowling attack of Delhi Devils. Kiwis captain Vettori and Indian spinner Amith Mishra sharpens Delhi's bowling attack.

IPL 2009-Fixture

Kings XI Punjab are no less formidable in batting with Sri Lankans Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawradene besides captain Yuvraj Singh. However, the biggest concern for King's XI Punjab skipper is, his bowling resources are thinner than ever. There is no Brett Lee, no Sreesanth, and no James Hopes, at least till the first nine matches, either.

They will also miss Australians Shaun Marsh and James Hopes who will be in Abu Dhabi for national duties.

Read more! Sphere: Related Content Mixx it!

Delhi Daredevils v Kings XI Punjab, IPL, Cape Town

Batting firepower gives Delhi the edge

Delhi Daredevils and Kings XI Punjab were semi-finalists in the inaugural season of the IPL but both stumbled at the penultimate hurdle. In the lead-up to the second edition, however, Delhi have emerged pre-tournament favourites and with good reason: they possess an outstanding balance and their top overseas players are available for the entire tournament. Delhi have the best opening combination in international cricket, AB de Villiers has developed tremendously over the last year, and their bowling line-up includes the world's No. 1 Twenty20 spinner. And then there's Glenn McGrath. Delhi's strength, though, has been their top-order and they added power to it by snapping up David Warner even before the Australian opener dropped jaws by clobbering South Africa on debut at the MCG.

That top-order will severely test a Punjab bowling attack that is significantly weaker than that of 2008. They are without their best bowlers from last year, Sreesanth, who is injured, and Brett Lee, who has been out of form and is currently on Australia duty. The mantle of leading the attack will rest on Irfan Pathan, VRV Singh and legspinner Piyush Chawla though Punjab also have Burt Cockley, a 23-year-old Australian quick, in their ranks.

If their bowlers manage to rein Delhi in, Punjab have the batting talent to put it across them. Yuvraj Singh, who hit six sixes in an over during the World Twenty20 in South Africa, will play the most important role while expecting significant contributions from Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara, who could open with new recruit Ravi Bopara. They also have last season's highest run-scorer, Shaun Marsh, and James Hopes but they will be available only after Australia's ODI series against Pakistan.

Player form guide

Delhi: Sehwag and Gambhir were in explosive form during India's tour of New Zealand, de Villiers had a successful summer against Australia and Vettori was steady as ever for New Zealand during their season.

Punjab: Yuvraj was in hot form during the ODIs in New Zealand but struggled in the Tests; Pathan played the two Twenty20 internationals in New Zealand but got smashed for 38 in three overs and 41 in four.

In from the cold

Glenn McGrath: McGrath is into his 40th year and has spent his time with his children after the death of his wife in June 2008 while running a charity organization. He decided to play the 2009 IPL only in December but his preparations for this year's event haven't been as intensive as last year.

Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara: Neither of Sri Lanka's premier batsmen has played cricket at a significant level since the terrorist attacks on their team bus in Lahore which forced the abandonment of the tour of Pakistan in March. Both players were treated for injuries after the attack.

Watch out for

David Warner: There's no middle ground with Warner. He's either hot or cold. He was sizzling on debut at the MCG whose massive boundaries he cleared repeatedly. The fans sitting in the stands behind the midwicket boundary at Newlands would do well to watch out for his pull.

Yuvraj v Vettori: Yuvraj's troubles against spin have been well documented and in Vettori, he will be up against one of the world's cleverest slow bowlers. He didn't do too badly against Vettori in New Zealand, scoring 33 runs off 38 balls with one dismissal

Friendly fire

Sehwag and Gambhir v Pathan and Yuvraj: They would have faced each other plenty of times in Indian nets sessions, and Sehwag and Gambhir will try to use that familiarity to attack Pathan's swing with the new ball. Rival captains Sehwag and Yuvraj will also be passing on inside tips to their bowlers on how to get the other out.

Team news

Delhi's first choice overseas players are likely to be Warner, de Villiers, Vettori and McGrath, which means the Englishmen - Paul Collingwood and Owais Shah - and the Sri Lankans - Tillakaratne Dilshan and Farveez Maharoof - will have to wait their turn. They also have to decide whether to split the Indian opening combination of Sehwag and Gambhir, who bat so well together, to give Warner a free rein during the Powerplays. If they do, then Gambhir is likely to bat at No. 3 with de Villiers adding solidity to the middle. The Indians in the bowling line-up are likely to be Ashish Nehra and Yo Mahesh, although little-known fast bowler Umesh Yadav is also in the reckoning.

Delhi: 1 Virender Sehwag (capt), 2 David Warner, 3 Gautam Gambhir, 4 AB de Villiers, 5 Manoj Tiwary, 6 Dinesh Karthik (wk), 7 Rajat Bhatia, 8 Daniel Vettori, 9 Yo Mahesh/Amit Mishra,10 Ashish Nehra, 11 Glenn McGrath.

Punjab are almost certain to play Jayawardene and Sangakkara while the other two overseas spots could go to new signings Ravi Bopara and Yusuf Abdulla, who will be familiar with home conditions. The other options are Luke Pomersbach, Simon Katich and Burt Cockley.

Punjab: 1 Ravi Bopara, 2 Kumar Sangakkara (wk), 3 Mahela Jayawardene, 4 Yuvraj Singh (capt), 5 Tanmay Srivastava, 7 Taruwar Kohli, 6 Irfan Pathan, 7 Wilkin Mota, 8 Piyush Chawla, 9 VRV Singh, 10 Yusuf Abdulla.

Head-to-head record

Punjab won both their games against Delhi last season. In the first match Punjab's fast bowlers wrecked Delhi's top-order in Mohali to help secure a four-wicket victory in the final over. Rain affected the second game and Punjab won the game by six runs under the D-L method after Delhi had scored 118 for 4 in 11 overs.

Read more! Sphere: Related Content Mixx it!

Pakistan v West Indies, 2nd ODI, Abu Dhabi

Pakistan bat, Shoaib still out

Captains winning the toss have decided to bat in all six of the previous matches at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium and Shoaib Malik continued that trend today. The pitch had less grass and a few more cracks than on Wednesday but was expected to remain a batting beauty.

Malik spoke of the need to improve their bowling and Pakistan made two changes to their attack, but there was still no Shoaib Akhtar because he had not recovered from his calf strain. Offspinner Saeed Ajmal and fast bowler Iftikhar Anjum replaced Fawad Alam and Abdur Rauf, both of whom had poor outings on Wednesday.

West Indies also dropped a player who started the series with a game to forget - Australia-born Brendan Nash made way for Shawn Findlay.

Chris Gayle said he preferred to bat first but was confident his side could put the demoralising last-over defeat in the first match behind them. They had a small bunch of noisy fans shouting encouragement, a part of the big crowd that turned up because of the public holiday in Abu Dhabi.

Pakistan: Salman Butt, Khurram Manzoor, Younis Khan, Misbah-ul-Haq, Shoaib Malik (capt), Shahid Afridi, Kamran Akmal (wk), Saeed Ajmal, Sohail Tanvir, Iftikhar Anjum, Umar Gul.

West Indies: Chris Gayle (capt), S Chattergoon, Xavier Marshall, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Shawn Findlay, Carlton Baugh (wk), Jerome Taylor, Nikita Miller, Darren Powell, Lionel Baker.

Read more! Sphere: Related Content Mixx it!

Demo

Hi This Is Beta Version Of This BlogHope You Will Like When It Is Laucnhed.

Read more! Sphere: Related Content Mixx it!