The Royal Challengers would like to think of themselves as the ‘thinking man’s team, but their thinking hasn’t borne fruit to date. The Deccan Chargers, by contrast, are an all-action outfit, boasting some of the most ferocious strikers and yet, precious little has gone right for them either. This Twenty20, what is it really about?
That’s the question that will occupy the mindspace of Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman going into Saturday afternoon’s bottom-of-the-table clash at the Chinnaswamy stadium. Neither side has had a happy time of it in the Indian Premier League — one win apiece in five matches can hardly spark joy — and another defeat will effectively snuff out the faintest vestiges of hope as regards a semifinal slot.

The Bangalore side has suffered not so much because they haven’t done justice to their potential — unlike Laxman’s lads — but because they are struggling to come to the party at critical moments. It is, needless to say, too late to do anything about the men Dravid has at his disposal; the skipper’s big challenge lies in getting his team to play above itself, and consistently at that.

The Royal Challengers can point to their two most recent defeats — by 13 runs to the Chennai Super Kings here last Monday, and by 10 to the Delhi Daredevils in the capital on Wednesday — as signs that they are getting a hang of the Twenty20 version. Truth be told, they had no business losing to the Super Kings after the blazing platform established by Wasim Jaffer and Ross Taylor, while the margin in New Delhi was flattering, to say the least, given that never did they seriously threaten the home side.

To compound their woes, they will be minus their most consistent and bruising batsman for the rest of their campaign. Kiwi Taylor has left to link up with his team-mates ahead of the Test series in England, while Australian paceman Ashley Noffke has returned home for a preparatory camp ahead of the tour of the West Indies. If Dravid believes there is no such thing as divine benevolence, he can hardly be blamed!

That said, divine benevolence can hardly bail the Royal Challengers out. They must start to believe that they can shape their own destinies, and that will call for not just introspection but also oodles of the self-belief that must have taken a serious beating, given recent results.

There will be cause for cheer by Saturday afternoon, what with Anil Kumble regaining his place following good progress from his groin injury. Particularly with Nathan Bracken too missing, the Royal Challengers desperately need a fit and firing Kumble so that they can put out the trappings of a good bowling combination with South African tyro Dale Steyn, Zaheer Khan and Praveen Kumar the other key cogs.

Kumble’s experience and relative parsimony — if that word applies in this format! — will also ensure that the batsmen may not be required to chase down totals in the 180s and above, all but winning efforts as this tournament has evidenced to date.

Taylor’s non-availability should open the door for Misbah-ul-Haq’s IPL debut; former Karnataka skipper J Arun Kumar too will fancy his chances of a debut, while Virat Kohli should keep his place despite disappointing returns.
Disappointing too have been the Deccan Chargers. On paper, they have one of the most powerful batting line-ups, and this despite Andrew Symonds’ return home. Between them, Adam Gilchrist, Herschelle Gibbs and Shahid Afridi form a fearsome troika; throw in the class of Laxman and the brilliance of Rohit Sharma, and the Hyderabad side will have to scratch their heads to explain repeated batting failures.

Man for man, the Royal Challengers have the more potent and experienced bowling attack, and that’s not taking anything away from Chaminda Vaas, Nuwan Zoysa, Rudra Pratap Singh and Pragyan Ojha. In any form of the game, however, reputation is no guarantee for success.

Teams (from):
Royal Challengers: Rahul Dravid (capt), Wasim Jaffer, J Arun Kumar, Misbah-ul-Haq, Jacques Kallis, Virat Kohli, Mark Boucher, Praveen Kumar, Zaheer Khan, Dale Steyn, Anil Kumble, Cameron White, Sreevats Goswami, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Sunil Joshi, Bharath Chipli, NC Aiyappa, KP Appanna, R Vinay Kumar, Devraj Patil, Abdur Razzak.

Deccan Chargers: VVS Laxman (capt), Adam Gilchrist, Herschelle Gibbs, Rohit Sharma, Shahid Afridi, Arjun Yadav, Sanjay Bangar, Rudra Pratap Singh, Nuwan Zoysa, Pragyan Ojha, D Kalyan Krishna, Y Venugopala Rao, Chaminda Vaas, Halhadar Das, DB Ravi Teja, PM Sarvesh Kumar, Chamara Silva, Scott Styris, P Vijay Kumar.

Umpires: Billy Doctrove and Suresh Shastri.