General / Jaymes Monte / 21 April 2009 /

Kevin Pietersen' side started the tournament strongly but suffered defeat in their second match whilst it's one win from one for the Deccan Chargers for whom Herschelle Gibbs starred with the bat. Jaymes Monte previews this one.

Team news

Both sides began their 2009 IPL campaigns with relatively trouble-free victories. The Royal Challengers won their match by a comfortable 75 runs after a stuttering start with the bat, and the Chargers won theirs by 8 wickets getting the required runs in just 13.1 overs. However, the Royal Challengers have since gone on to suffer a crushing defeat at the hands of the Chennai Super Kings.

It has been a lacklustre display from the Challengers' top order batsmen so far, and they were saved by an uncharacteristic 66 off 48 balls from Rahul Dravid in their opening match. Ryan Taylor has a cumulative total of one run from the two games, Robin Uthappa went for just three in his first game, Jesse Ryder and Praveen Kumar both went for ducks opening the batting and captain Kevin Pietersen couldn't make the scoreboard tick against the Super Kings.

Anil Kumble has undoubtedly been their star with the ball - he returned with remarkable figures of 5 for 5 off just 3.1 overs against the Rajasthan Royals. Praveen Kumar has also picked up a couple of wickets in both matches so far as well as being extremely economical. The big disappointment of the tournament so far for the Challengers would have to be pace bowler Dale Steyn who has picked up just one wicket and suffered the full wrath of Matthew Hayden's bat in Port Elizabeth.

We haven't seen as much of the Chargers' batting line up, as the top order made light work of chasing down a modest total against the Kolkata Knight Riders. This was mainly thanks to Herschelle Gibbs who hit 43 off just 26 balls at a strike rate of 165.38.

With the ball, it was RP Singh who took the wickets whilst Fiddel Edwards kept the runs at bay bowling one maiden over and conceding just six runs from his other three.
Venue, pitch, conditions.

The bowlers certainly came out on top in the opening matches in Cape Town as we saw a few scores in the low hundreds plus the lowest score in IPL history, just 58 from the Rajasthan Royals. For that reason, a play on Under 310.5 runs would be a wise choice.

The clouds coming over Table Mountain seem to have been a prominent feature of the IPL thus far, as we have waited with baited breath for news of the weather. But the forecast is good for this Wednesday which means we should get a full 20 overs per side and be able to enjoy this game as it was intended.

Match Odds

Deccan Chargers are slight favourites for this one, currently available at around the [1.9] mark and on all known form I'd say that is a more than fair price. The Royal Challengers have shown more than once that they have some major chinks in their armour whereas the Chargers were near faultless with both bat and ball in their opener.

Top Batsman

The Royal Challengers have had a torrid time at the top of their innings and unless KP moves himself up the order I'd be looking to stay well clear of the opening batsmen. Jaques Kallis looked impressive on Monday before getting trapped LBW by Albie Morkel and he comes in to this tournament on the back of some good ODI innings against Australia. He's definitely a player to keep on the right side of at present.

For the Chargers I'll be hoping for more of the same from Herschelle Gibbs. He's another player who comes into this tournament on the back of an impressive ODI series against the Aussies and another who I'd trust in carrying my money in this market.
Featured Market

It's the 'Opening Partnership' market that we should be looking to as a prime betting opportunity in this match-up. The Royal Challengers have failed to get off the mark with their opening partnership in either of their two fixtures thus far so if you see anything around the [1.8] mark available on the Deccan Chargers here, it should be snapped up.

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