Bangalore confidence will be high after their good showing in the IPL, but a lot of the first choice eleven haven’t met or practiced together after that. However, in Ray Jennings they have a coach who can engender the professional attitude necessary to overcome this. Their South African team-mates should be a key source of input about the Cobras, and on the leadership front they have possibly the most dignified captain in business in Anil Kumble. The foreign recruits likely to play would be Kallis, Boucher, Ross Taylor and Dale Steyn/van der Merwe. Backed by the Indian stars – Dravid, Kumble, Kohli, Praveen Kumar and Robin Uthappa – that forms a very good core set of players, that can test the opposition under all conditions. The exciting Manish Pandey is also around and this will be the best chance for him to show the world that his earlier performances weren’t a flash in the pan, and that he has it in him to be the next young hope for not just Bangalore, but ultimately for India. Uthappa and Kohli will be two other batsmen desperate to do well – since one is on the fringes of national selection, while the other needs to do some work to force his way back to the side. Of course, veterans such as Kumble and Dravid have never needed any extra motivation to give more than 100% on the field, and it should be no different this time.