The 25th match of the DLF IPL will have the Deccan Chargers play the Rajasthan Royals at Port Elizabeth. This will also be the penultimate mach for the Sports Pundit IPL Fantasy experts in this second period.
The Royals have been under some pressure and their loss to Chennai confirmed that their batting has been a struggle. Graeme Smith has only one knock of substance to his name where as Rob Quiney and Swapnil Asnodkar have yet to get going. Yusuf Pathan remains the best bet to be chosen from the team, especially given that he can bowl and pick up a wicket or two.
Amongst the bowlers from Royals, Shane Warne and Munaf Patel have impressed, but the bowler who has looked like picking the wickets the most has been Kamran Khan. However, he had limped off in the previous encounter, and I will not want to risk getting him in. Instead, Dimitri Mascarhenhas looks a much better bet with his capability to pick a wicket or so and with a potential to be a very explosive batsman on his day.
The Deccan Chargers will give a problem of aplenty for the SPIFfers, as there are many a batsmen from their side who are in the form of the tournament. Herschelle Gibbs has had only one failure, Gilchrist is only a couple of shots away from hitting his straps, Rohit Sharma can anchor the inning and play through out, where as Dwayne Smith showed what he can do with the bowling if he gets out from the right side of the bed. My favourite here will be Sharma who should be able to bat through the inning and get to a good total.
The bowling is an equal problem; Fidel Edwards, R.P. Singh and Pragyan Ojha doing really well and have inspired the team to four wins in four matches. The issue with Edwards is that he may have played his part for the team and may leave the South African shores for the series against England soon. Between RP and Ojha, my vote is with the former who has this uncanny knack of scalping wickets at the most inopportune occasions for the oppositions.