Pundits had placed both teams way behind the glamour outfits in the IPL. Their meek beginning in the 44-day extravaganza strengthened the arguments of doomsday prophets.

But a little over a week into the tournament, both have gone a long way in erasing the tag of also-rans.

Let's take stock of the hosts first. After a disastrous beginning in the opening encounter against Kolkata Knight Riders, the local side found its feet in the second game against Mumbai Indians, winning by five wickets. It was a complete team effort with all the top-order batsmen chipping in with vital contributions.

Encore needed

They will need an encore against Royals on Saturday at the Chinnaswamy stadium here to further boost their position. In the first game against Kolkata, they were guilty of batting as if there was no tomorrow. The Challengers batsmen, however, were at ease with the demands of the ultra-abridged version in Mumbai.

The lynchpins of their batting line-up, skipper Rahul Dravid and the South African duo of Mark Boucher and Jacques Kallis, came up with performances expected of them. It was the partnership between Boucher and Kallis that tilted the outcome in favour of the Challengers.

But they face a different challenge against the Royals. To be precise, they will have to negate Shane Warne the bowler and the captain.

Warne has been in exemplary form in this tournament, his ability to transform a set of individuals into strong-minded competitors nothing short of amazing. The Australian's effort has been all the more creditable because the team was low on confidence after the drubbing against Delhi Daredevils in their first match.

The home side will be doing a big mistake if they discount the likes of Shane Watson, Mohammad Kaif, Graeme Smith, Yusuf Pathan and Ravindra Jadeja. All of them have shown their capabilities with the bat on different occasions over the last three matches.

Their bowling has more to it than just Warne. Pathan is a more than useful off-spinner while pacers Watson, Munaf Patel and Siddharth Trivedi can be a handful if the conditions suit them. Australian all-rounder Warson was impressive in particular, chipping in with bat and ball at crucial junctures. His match-winning half-century against Kings XI Punjab underlined his value to the side.

Well equipped

The Challengers are well-equipped to counter these hazards. On the batting front, they are safe with the big names finding their rhythm in the last match, and they were also able to move the scoreboard through well-stitched partnerships. The addition of Pakistan's Misbah-ul-Haq will give Dravid another batting option.

Their bowling and fielding too appeared a lot sharp in the last game and that should come as a confidence booster. The pitch in all probability will have something for the bowlers in both sessions, and that might come as a relief for Kallis, who has struggled with the ball.

Left-arm paceman Zaheer Khan will have to play a vital role on the morrow. The Challengers will perforce have to curb Smith and Pathan, and the Mumbaikar will have to come up with a tidy spell up front.

After a lop-sided match just over a week ago, the clash of the two in-form teams might offer Bangaloreans the much-anticipated thriller.

Teams (from):

Royal Challengers: Rahul Dravid (capt), Wasim Jaffer, Jaques Kallis, Virat Kohli, Cameron White, Mark Boucher, Misbah-ul-Haq, Ashley Noffke, Vinay Kumar, Zaheer Khan, Praveen Kumar, Ross Taylor, Sunil Joshi, B Akhil, J Arun Kumar, Sreevats Goswami, KP Appanna.
Rajasthan Royals: Shane Warne (capt), Graeme Smith, Yusuf Pathan, Mohammad Kaif, Neeraj Patel, Shane Watson, Pankaj Singh, Munaf Patel, Sohail Tanvir, Kamran Akmal, Swapnil Asnodkar, Dinesh Salunkia, Siddharth Trivedi, Ravindra Jadeja, Taruwar Kohli, Mahesh Rawat.
Umpires: Mark Benson and Ian Howell. Third umpire: GA Pratap Kumar. Match referee: J Srinath.