Royal Challengers Bangalore vs Deccan Chargers Match Preview
It seemed the IPL had finally found its Twenty20 soul, with two batsmen combining to score - for the first time in this tournament - at a frenetic pace throughout the innings. But chasing a huge Deccan Chargers total, a limp show from Bangalore Royal Challengers meant another wait for the first closely-fought encounter this season.
The day belonged to Adam Gilchrist and Rohit Sharma, who scored 123 between them, off 75 deliveries, with 88 of them coming in boundary hits. The target of 185, under lights at Newlands, is not an experience teams look forward to. It didn't help that for the third time in a row, Bangalore lost a wicket without having scored a run.
The difference in conditions in the two innings showed, with Deccan's bowlers managing to swing the ball in the initial overs. The first ball of the Bangalore innings, bowled by Fidel Edwards, was a fast, swinging yorker that removed Jesse Ryder for a duck in successive IPL matches.
If Edwards made an early impact, with only 31 runs coming in the Powerplay overs, Gilchrist was not far behind in Deccan's batting Powerplay. In the first two overs, bowled by Praveen Kumar and Dale Steyn, Gilchrist's clean hitting necessitated six fielding changes, and a change of angle to round the stumps from both bowlers. What was constant was Gilchrist's severity on anything erring in length. He reached 26 in the first two overs and inevitably a bowling change followed.
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