Royal Challengers Bangalore should bring in Daniel Vettori in place of Tillakaratne Dilshan, opines Dean Jones, adding that the championship team in the previous IPLs has a strike rate of 8.2 and economy rate of 7.8 and Bangalore are 8.3 and 8.4, which shows that their bowling has left a lot to be desired.
“They have a massive problem deciding who opens the batting. Is it Virat Kohli, AB de Villers, Chris Gayle or maybe Vettori? Ultimately, they have to improve their defence. Vettori and Murali bowling in tandem sounds nice but Zaheer Khan needs to bowl early. His three overs must come in the first 10. The other problem is Vinay Kumar who needs a boost in confidence. For Punjab, it’s a do-or-die match. They need to win both their games. On the other hand, the momentum seems to be with Chennai. To retain the title, they need to win 8 out of their 9 matches. They have won 4 of their last 5. For Delhi, who have already qualified for the playoffs, confidence and momentum are the keys leading into the final,” writes Dean Jones in The Times Of India.
Meanwhile according to a report in The Indian Express, RCB is in a must-win situation Tillakaratne Dilshan feels his side has a good chance of beating table-toppers Delhi Daredevils at the Feroze Shah Kotla. Tomorrow's match is the penultimate league game for RCB and they need to win their last two engagements to qualify for the knockout stage. They play their final match against Deccan Chargers on May 20.
"We will have to play our best cricket. We had beaten Delhi in the first round. They are a tough opposition and the team should do everything to win this. At the moment it is a good challenge for us," Dilshan said on the eve of the match.
"They are a strong team, compared to others. Both the teams are equal. We have an equal chance of winning but the team that plays better in all departments will win," he added.
Meanwhile Mahela Jayawardene, fresh from his unbeaten half-century in Daredevils' victory over Kings XI Punjab on Tuesday, dismissed concerns about the team's vulnerable middle-order, says a report in The Hindu.
“It is good that our top-order is scoring runs. Sixty-seventy per cent of T20 games are won based on top-order players scoring runs. After that, it is just how you handle the other situations. If you see the top 10 batsmen in the IPL, all are openers or No. 3 batsmen. It is only when the top-order hasn't done well, the responsibility falls on the middle-order.”
