The Chargers had received a drubbing at the hands of Kolkata Knight Riders in their first match on April 20, which captain VVS Laxman blamed on poor pitch and a power snag at the Eden Gardens.

However, it was the batsmen which let the team down in their second match against Delhi Daredevils on Tuesday with big guns like Adam Gilchrist, Andrew Symonds, Shahid Afridi and Laxman himself coming cropper.

Local hero Laxman will come under increased pressure to deliver as he has failed to show his mettle in the shortest format of the game as the fans in his home town expect a big score from him.

Other stars in the team like Gilchrist, Symonds and Afridi are also likely to come under scrutiny over their performance.

Impressive Warne

Meanwhile, Rajasthan Royals which had lost their first match against Delhi Daredevils on April 19, are on a high after their impressive win against Kings XI Punjab in their second match, and more so with the arrival of South Afr-ican captain Graeme Smith. With spin legend Shane Warne weaving his magic and Australian all-rounder Shane Watson and young Ravindra Jadeja coming up with brilliant performances with the bat, the Jaipur team has the psychological advantage.

Watson scored a brisk 76 including five sixes in 49 balls in the match against the Punjab team. However, member Mohammad Kaif’s form is a bit a worry for captain and coach Warne.

Kaif scored only nine and five and will have to fire to lighten the pressure on Watson and other youngsters.

Warne said after their nine-wicket loss to the Daredevils he would want Kaif and Munaf Patel, two senior members from the domestic circuit, to play a big role in the team’s fortunes in the T20 competition. Kaif has not done that so far and Munaf will also have to work harder to rediscover his rhythm though he got a wicket in their second match against Kings XI Punjab, conceding 35 runs from three overs.

Teams (from):

Deccan Chargers: VVS Laxman (capt), Sanjay Bangar, Haldhar Das, Scott Styris, Adam Gilchrist, D Kalyan Krishna, Pragyan Ojha, D Ravi Teja, PM Sarvesh Kumar, Shahid Afridi, Rohit Sharma, RP Singh, Chamara Silva, Andrew Symonds, Chaminda Vaas, Y Venugopal Rao, P Vijay Kumar, Arjun Yadav, Nuwan Zoysa.

Rajasthan Royals: Shane Warne (capt), Aditya Angle, Swapnil Asnodkar, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Kaif, Kamran Akmal, Sumit Khatri, Taruwar Kohli, Mahesh Rawat, Dimitri Mascarenhas, Parag More, Pankaj Singh, Munaf Patel, Niraj Patel, Yusuf Pathan, Anup Revandkar, Jaydev Shah, Sohail Tanvir, Siddharth Trivedi, Shane Watson, Younis Khan, Dinesh Salunke.