Chance for RCB to regroup

Cricket: Indian Premier League III: Kumbles men look to regain winning ways against an embattled Kings XI

There was nothing drastically wrong with the RCB performance even in their two defeats. If it was a clutch of run-outs spoiled their chase against Daredevils, failure to accelerate in the end overs hampered the Bangalore outfit against Super Kings on Wednesday, pushing them to the third place in the chart.

So, if they can galvanise those minor jarring points RCB can return to the winning ways and resume their pursuit for a semifinal berth in right earnest. Kiwi Ross Taylor has joined the RCB squad ahead of the morrow’s clash and his arrival will only strengthen the side while giving another option for the management in batting that has already showed a lot of fire-power.

The affable New Zealander has been in fine fettle and he had blasted an 81-ball hundred in the recently-concluded Test series against Australia. In their short outings during the match against CSK, Kevin Pietersen and Cameron White had dropped enough signals of their touch and class and the management will be hoping for a bigger contribution from the duo, though it remains to be seen whether one of them make way for Taylor.

Though he notched up his fourth IPL III fifty, Jacques Kallis, RCB’s batting mainstay, went strokeless in the back half of the innings against CSK severely affecting the eventual nature of their target. The veteran South African, owner of Orange Cap for the highest run-scorer by a considerable margin, will be eager to make amends for a rather cold outing against Chennai with a bruising knock. 

RCB bowlers, with the exception of Anil Kumble and Dale Steyn, did not exactly had a bright time against Daredevils and Super Kings. They failed to check the late charge of Daredevils allowing them to muster a total in excess of 180 and the Bangalore bowlers looked clueless when Chennai’s Murali Vijay played a punishing knock upfront.
On a pacy and bouncy pitch at Mohali, Steyn and Co. will be eager to produce a winning effort.

However, it will be naive to write off Punjab side. Yet to click as a unit, the northern franchise has a set of match-winners in their ranks -- Yuvraj Singh, Irfan Pathan, Brett Lee, skipper Kumar Sangakkara, who will play morrow’s match after a one-game ban, and Mahela Jayawardene.

With both the sides hoping to arrest the losing streak of various magnitude, a well-fought contest is a certainty.