Saturday’s double header in the T20 Champions League comes from Bangalore. The Cape Cobras return to action and they face a big test against the Victoria Bushrangers who look well set for the semi finals while the Royal Challengers face Delhi Daredevils.

Cape Cobras v Victoria:

Virtually through to the semi-finals after a comprehensive win over Royal Challengers, Victoria Bushrangers would strive to consolidate their position when they take on Cape Cobras in their Champions League match in Bangalore.

The Cobras wrapped up qualification from the initial group stage in double quick time and they have had a week without a game. They beat Bangalore on this ground in the opening game when JP Duminy excelled with the bat and they subsequently crushed Otago by 54 runs. A strong factor in the Cobras favour in terms of a semi final place is the carry forward points they have already banked from the first group stage. A Cobras win would eliminate the Royal Challengers and make it very difficult for them to be caught by the Daredevils who they face on Monday.

Victoria were superb when beating Royal Challengers Bangalore with 7 wickets in hand and 25 balls remaining on Thursday. After RCB got off to a flyer, some tight bowling, particularly from Andrew Mcdonald, restricted the home side to 127/6 and their batsmen made no mistake. The boost to their net run rate could also be crucial depending on results elsewhere.

Skipper Andrew Puttick, who has cracked a century and figures second in the list of highest run getters in the tournament so far, would be the mainstay of Cobras’ batting order. But the captain would also rely heavily on the likes of middle-order batsman J P Duminy and experienced Herchelle Gibbs for some timely contributions in Saturday’s match.

Meanwhile, experienced Brad Hodge and David Hussey would lead the Bushrangers’ batting department. The Bushrangers looked a promising outfit when they went off to a winning start in the tournament, beating Delhi Daredevils, but soon lost their rhythm and suffered a 15-run defeat at the hands of inexperienced Wayamba Elevens of Sri Lanka.

However, the Bushrangers are now back in their elements and the Cobras should brace up to negotiate a stiff challenge from the side, which was considered by many as one of the title contenders.

Royal Challengers v Delhi Daredevils:

The Royal Challengers are all but out of the competition. To have any chance they need the Cobras to lose the above match and they must also inflict a huge defeat on Delhi in this game. Even then, they would still be sweating on the result of the final group match between Delhi and the Cobras and the damage to their net run rate means this is likely this will be their last game in the tournament. They finished the Victoria game in some disarray with a poor bowling and fielding display that suggested they are resigned to their fate.

Delhi recovered from losing their opening match to thrash Wayamba to qualify from their group. Sehwag was in terrific form in that particular game but they now need a repeat in what for them is their first match away from home.

The Bangalore squad is well-balanced on paper, with world-class batsmen and bowlers in their ranks, but they haven’t been able to get their act together in the tournament, having won just one game out of four.

Any side which has Robin Uthappa, Jacques Kallis, Rahul Dravid, Ross Taylor, Virat Kohli, Manish Pandey and Mark Boucher is a formidable batting unit, but they havn’t fired in unison in two of the four matches they played. On the bowling front also, Royal Challengers boasts of Anil Kumble, Kallis, Dale Steyn, Roelof van der Merwe and Praveen Kumar, but, here again, except for Kallis, none have been consistent.

Incidentally, Delhi Daredevils has similar concerns with its batting. Their key player, Tillakaratne Dilshan, is struggling, and, more importantly, the burden of captaincy seems to have bogged down Gautam Gambhir. Only Sehwag appears to be enjoying his game, while consistency eludes Dinesh Karthik.

One department that could tilt the balance in Daredevils’s favour is their bowling, with Australia’s Dirk Nannes carrying over his red-hot form of Indian Premier League II. He took four wickets in the two group matches.

Daredevils have also been strengthened by the good showing of retired Australian great Glenn McGrath in their last match against Wayamba of Sri Lanka.

Author: Mona Gupta (New Delhi)

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