Talk of best buddies in the cricket world; you don’t see closer
friends than two Sri Lankan former captains Kumar Sanagakara and Mahela
Jayawardene. They have been part of each other’s decision making on and
off their field. The strong friendship will take a back seat when two
will walk out for the toss tomorrow while captaining their IPL
franchises. Two of the better tacticians in the world cricket, Kochi’
Mahela Jayewardene and Sangakkara leading Deccan side will be have
plenty of plans up their sleeve to outsmart each other.
Wednesday’s encounter between Deccan and Kochi at latter’s home
ground is very important for both sides. A loss at this stage for either
side would largely dent the prospects going deep into the tournament.
Struggling at the bottom of points table, Deccan will have to find an
inspiration from somewhere if they are harboring any chances of
progressing further. Four losses in six outings have hit them big time
and some consecutive wins from now onwards would do for them On their
home turf, Deccan were outdone by a batting pair of former Deccan
players Rohit Sharma and Andrew Symonds and their pursuit towards the
Mumbai total was punctured by Lasith Malinga’s yorkers.In spite of
having a decent batting line-up on paper, Deccan have failed to put
enough runs on the board on a consistent basis. Not to mention their
ordinary fielding which has made big runs on the score sheet a basic
requirement for winning matches.
For Kochi, it has been a mixed bag so far. After a disastrous couple
of early games they somehow found the winning ways and even scored a hat
trick of wins. But, the inconsistency of their batting line-up which
heavily relies upon the overseas players and their failure against
Rajasthan turned out to be Kochi’s undoing.
For Kochi to put up a big score on the board, likes of Mahela, Brad
Hodge and if fit Brendon Mcullum will have to play out of their skin and
youngster in the side also need to buck up. Enterprising all rounder
Ruvindu Jadeja needs to put some sense to his batting and make sure he
doesn’t throw his wicket after getting the start.
On form, both the teams have blown hot and cold but Kochi have a
slight edge after pocketing six points in their campaign so far.
Nevertheless, it should be a good contest between bat and ball with the
two Sri-Lankan senior pros at the helm of affairs.
HYDERABAD
Players who can make impact…
Dale Steyn…During their match against Mumbai, Kochi
were troubled by the pace of Malinga, thus Steyn becomes all the more
important. His pace, bounce and movement both off and in the air may
prove to be a headache for the Orange shirts.
K Sangakkara....The stylish and dependable south-paw
has batted nicely for Hyderabad this year but he is due for a real
match-winning performance. And, big match players like him have a habit
of giving their best when the team needs it most.
SQUAD
Akash Bhandari, Amit Mishra, Anand Rajan, Ankit Sharma, Ashish Reddy,
Bharat Chipli, Cameron White, Chris Lynn, Dale Steyn, Daniel Christian,
DR Teja, Harmeet Singh, Ishan Malhotra, Ishank Jaggi, Ishant Sharma,
Jaydev Shah, JP Duminy, Juan Theron, K Sangakkara (c)(wk), Kedar
Devdhar, Manpreet Gony, Michael Lumb, Pragyan Ojha, Shikhar Dhawan,
Sunny Sohal
KOCHI
Players who can make impact…
M Jayawardene .…Mahela will also be eager to perform
against a team led by his good friend, Sangakkara and the strong pace
attack of their opponents increases his value as their prime performer
with the bat.
Brendon McCullum…On his day, he can take any bowling
attack apart. He may just be the right kind of batsman to take on Steyn
and co in this important clash.
SQUAD
B McCullum, Balachandra Akhil, Brad Hodge, Chandan Madan, Deepak
Chougule, Gnaneswara Rao, John Hastings, Kedar Jadhav, M Jayawardene
(c), Michael Klinger, Muttiah Muralitharan, Owais Shah, P Padmanabhan,
Parthiv Patel (wk), Raiphi Gomez, Ramesh Powar, Ravindra Jadeja, RP
Singh, S Sreesanth, Steve O'Keefe, Steven Smith, Sushant Marathe, Tanmay
Srivastava, Thissara Perera, Vinay Kumar,VVS Laxman, Yashpal Singh
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