Bangalore: Having lost the tournament opener to the Cobras despite a good show with the bat, the Royal Challengers now face a do or die situation, going against Otago. While Robin Uthappa and Ross Taylor contributed with the bat to help Bangalore to a good score, the bowlers were not upto the mark with JP Duminy completely outwitting them. The fielding too looked a bit rusty and needs to improve drastically. Bangalore must put up a better performance in the field and with the ball if they hope to qualify to the next round.
Otago: The team from New Zealand had a forgettable outing during their match against the Cobras. While their bowling looked clueless against Andrew Puttick, the batting looked brittle despite the likes of McCullum and Redmond in the lineup. Having landed up in a must win situation, the Volts have to pull their socks up and come up with a better performance with both the bat as well as the ball.
Players to watch:
Ross Taylor: The Kiwi recruit came up with an impressive show during the first match bringing up his fifty in quick time. Going up against his Kiwi colleagues, Taylor would hope to produce a similar performance.
Hamish Rutherford: Son of former New Zealand captain Ken Rutherford, the talented Hamish looked set for a good knock before his premature departure. However, he would like to contribute handsomely for Otago’s cause.
Numbers Game:
4: The number of fifties scored by Jacques Kallis and Rahul Dravid while playing for the Royal Challengers.
242: The number of runs scored by Brendon McCullum against Bangalore. Playing for Kolkata, McCullum got two huge scores against the Challengers in the 3 matches played against them. He scored 158 during IPL 2008 and a score of 84 in the 2009 season.
Sound Bytes
When you have 180 on scoreboard, it’s always disappointing to lose. JP Duminy batted really brilliantly. We dropped number of catches that might be one of the reason, but there are other things to be looked after: Kumble, after the loss to the Cobras.
Teams:
Bangalore Royal Challengers (From): Jacques Kallis, Robin Uthappa, Rahul Dravid, Virat Kohli, Ross Taylor, Manish Pandey, Mark Boucher(w), Praveen Kumar, Vinay Kumar, Anil Kumble(c), Dale Steyn, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Balachandra Akhil, Rajesh Bishnoi, Roelof van der Merwe
Otago (From): Brendon McCullum, Aaron Redmond, Hamish Rutherford, Craig Cumming(c), Neil Broom, Nathan McCullum, Dimitri Mascarenhas, Derek de Boorder(w), Ian Butler, Warren McSkimming, Neil Wagner, Nick Beard, Matt Harvie, James McMillan, Greg Todd
Ground Reality and Pitch: The M Chinnaswamy stadium, surrounded by Cubbon park and the Mahatma Gandhi road, is a premier cricket ground. Formerly known as the KSCA stadium, the ground has a seating capacity of over 50,000. The first Test match at this ground was played between West Indies and India in 1974 which the West Indians won emphatically. One of the memorable matches played here was the India-Pakistan World Cup quarter-finals encounter which India won by 36 runs. The stadium also houses the National Cricket Academy, which is a stepping stone for young cricketers to the big scene. The Pitch, as seen in the first match, is more in favour of the batsmen and one can expect a run-feast once again.
Temperatures: Min-18 C Max-26 C | Forecast: Scattered Thunderstorms
Tags: Bangalore Royal Challengers vs Otago, Champions League T20
