Daijiworld Media Network
Hyderabad, May 20 : Welcome to the final day of the league matches in this edition of the IPL. Three out of the four qualifying spots are confirmed with the Delhi Daredevils finishing on top and Kolkata Knight Riders in second position. The battle today will determine who finishes third and fourth in the table. It is important to note that Mumbai Indians are currently in third and have also qualified for the play-offs, but they have a game to go which is later today.
The first clash is between the Deccan Chargers and Royal Challengers Bangalore from Uppal, Hyderabad. Deccan have had a miserable campaign so far and they will look to finish this season on a high. They already spoiled a party of one team when they defeated Rajasthan Royals and knocked them out of contention. They will want to do the same against Bangalore today. Winning against RCB today will ensure that they avoid the wooden spoon. So, a lot at stake for DC.
The equation is simple for Bangalore. A win today for them and they knock CSK out of the competition. Victory will also ensure their passage into the play-offs where they could play the Mumbai Indians in Bangalore. RCB's batting has been wonderful but their bowling has struggled. Will they function as a unit today and put one over DC? Stay tuned for the toss and the team updates.
Royal Challengers Bangalore have won the toss and elected to field
Kohli: It is a really important game for us. It is an all or nothing match for us. I like challenging situations and I hope that some individuals stand up and perform. We will bowl first. We are fielding an unchanged side (So Gayle is fit and playing). The boys have done a great job. We have played some good cricket. The matches that we lost affected our net run-rate. I cannot comment on who we kick out from the tournament.
Sangakkara: The guys played well in the last game. The way we bowled and batted was great. It is great to see the hard work reflecting in the last match. I would have batted first. We would want to spoil Bangalore's party. I replace Chris Lynn in the team and that is the only change.
Dhawan: I am really happy with my form but I would have been happier if we had won few more games. There were a few games which slipped out but that is how it goes. We hope to come better prepared next year. I am happy that we won the last match as we do not have a good record in this stadium. We would want to knock Bangalore out.
Teams:
Royal Challengers Bangalore (Playing XI): Tillakaratne Dilshan, Chris Gayle, Virat Kohli(c), Saurabh Tiwary, AB de Villiers(w), Mayank Agarwal, Vinay Kumar, Zaheer Khan, Harshal Patel, Prasanth Parameswaran, Muttiah Muralitharan
Deccan Chargers (Playing XI): Akshath Reddy, Shikhar Dhawan, Cameron White, Parthiv Patel(w), Kumar Sangakkara(c), Jean-Paul Duminy, Ashish Reddy, Dale Steyn, Amit Mishra, Manpreet Gony, Veer Pratap Singh