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Chargers seeks to return to winning ways

— Photo: AFP

FIRING AWAY: Fidel Edwards has bowled with a lot of heart and struck early for Deccan Chargers.

Port Elizabeth: Having suffered its first defeat in the tournament, table topper Deccan Chargers will seek to return to winning ways when it clashes with an unpredictable Rajasthan Royals side in the Indian Premier League hereon Saturday.

Although the Chargers’ fairytale campaign was stopped by Delhi Daredevils, the Hyderabad outfit is a formidable opponent for the Royals. It is sitting pretty at the top with four wins out of five matches.

Tagged as laggards last year, Chargers has been a revelation in this edition of the T20 tournament and looked unstoppable till Thursday when Daredevils defeated it by six wickets.

Chargers will be relying heavily on captain Adam Gilchrist and Herschelle Gibbs, who flopped for the first time in the event, to fire upfront.

Gilchrist and Gibbs have been in rampaging form and blown away their opponents with some power hitting.

Boasting of names like Rohit Sharma and Dwayne Smith, who hit a 28-ball 48 against the Daredevils, Chargers middle-order looks impressive.

Skipper Gilchrist has said that V.V.S. Laxman is still in the scheme of things despite the fact that the stylish batsman was rested to give youngster T. Suman an opportunity.

“Suman has been playing well in the nets, so we decided to give him an opportunity. It does not means that VVS is out of contention. He is always there, but we also wanted to test some youngsters,” said Gilchrist. Except for the losing outing on Thursday, the Hyderabad team’s bowling department has also looked in good shape with R.P. Singh leading from the front and young Pragyan Ojha showcasing his talent in the spin department.

West Indian Fidel Edwards, who looked a little out of sorts against Daredevils, will look to come out charged up against Royals to make amends for his poor show.

On the other hand, with only two victories out of six matches, Shane Warne-led Rajasthan Royals is in the bottom half of the points table.

Mixed performance

The defending champion has had a mixed outing in the tournament so far and lacked consistency in its performance. Its unpredictability can be ascertained from the fact that just after a five-wicket triumph over Daredevils, it slumped to a big loss against Super Kings.

Batting continues to remain a concern area for Royals with players like Graeme Smith, Rob Quiney and Swapnil Asnodkar not able to click consistently

The team is depending heavily on Yusuf Pathan to come good and that is putting extra pressure on the right-hander.

Royals’ bowlers have their task cut out and to add to their woes, the team might have to do without with young Kamran Khan, who injured his foot against Chennai. — PTI

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