Daijiworld Media Network

Hyderabad, Apr 7: The second match of the day and two teams that had a winning start to the tournament are up against each other. Both teams secured tight wins in their first match and winner of this game will go on top of the points ladder. Hello, and a warm welcome as Hyderabad host Bangalore in a much anticipated encounter.

Bangalore have won the toss and elected to bat

Sangakkara: 'I would have also batted. Just one change, Ravi Teja has been left out and ... ( he forgets the name of the replacement). We know they are a good side. We will have to fight well. The way we came back in the last match and the spirit we showed was outstanding. There is no special plans for Gayle, we just need to get him as soon as possible. Proud to play in Hyderabad.'

Kohli: 'We will bat first, looks like a good batting wicket. Just one change for us, Moises Henriques comes in for Dan Christian. It is always nice to get a win under the belt. I was backing both Vinay and Jaidev to deliver for us. We need more application in the batting department. Gayle is perfectly fine and we hope he will continue to bat well for us.'

Match Preview:

Following a close victory over Mumbai in their opening game, Bangalore will be in search of their second win when they take on Hyderabad in what will be the latter's second home game. The Virat Kohli-led side went through some nervy moments before clinching their first win and they will be hoping to avoid such a situation by coming up with a clinical performance against the Kumar Sangakkara-led team.

Meanwhile, the debutants of the Indian T20 league, Hyderabad having gotten off to a winning start with a 22 run victory in a low-scoring encounter against Pune, will be hoping to come up with a strong show against the star-studded Bangalore line-up.

Bangalore:

Team News: AB de Villiers, who missed the opening game due to his contract with the South African T20 team Nashua Titans, is yet to join the Bangalore side and will not be part of their second match. Cheteshwar Pujara too will miss the game as he has not recovered from a broken finger while Zaheer Khan's fitness continues to be a problem and he is likely to miss this game as well. The Bangalore team will again be banking on Chris Gayle to shine with the bat like he did in the first match. Although the swashbuckling West Indian was seen limping in the game against Mumbai and did not take the field in the second innings, the good news for Bangalore is that he is fit and will be part of the line-up against Hyderabad.

In form player: Gayle's run-amassing spree for Bangalore has continued as he blasted 92 off just 58 balls in the game against Mumbai and was single-handedly responsible for Bangalore to end up with a competitive total of 156 on a pitch that was assisting the seamers. The knock, which included 11 fours and 5 massive hits past the boundary ropes, helped Gayle move up to the sixth spot on the list of the highest run-getters in the Indian T20 League and the left-hander is just 104 runs short of becoming only the fourth cricketer with 2000 or more runs in the T20 League.

Probable foreign players: Chris Gayle, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Muttiah Muralitharan and Moises Henriques.

Hits: Vinay Kumar came up with a crucial final over in which he picked up two wickets and gave away just 7 runs which helped Bangalore clinch a thriller against Mumbai. The seamer, who finished with a three wicket haul in that game, will be looking to come up with a similar show, going up against Hyderabad.

Appointed full time captain of Bangalore, Kohli started off well with a breezy 24. However, the skipper would have been disappointed that he could not convert his start into a substantial score and will be keen to score big in Bangalore's second match.

Misses: Tillakaratne Dilshan is a power player and his role at the top of the order is a crucial one for the Bangalore side as he is capable of providing blistering starts. However, that was not quite the case against Mumbai as the Lankan opener fell without scoring a run, clean bowled by Mitchell Johnson after facing 8 deliveries. The hard-hitting right-hander will be looking to make amends with a strong performance against Hyderabad. Daniel Christian, as an allrounder, failed miserably in Bangalore's opening game as he scored just four runs before ending up with expensive figures 0/42 off his four overs. The forgettable performance means that Christian is unlikely to get a second chance, especially with players like Henriques, Christopher Barnwell and Ravi Rampaul eager to grab a spot.

Hyderabad:

Team News: The Hyderabad team will continue to be without the services of Shikhar Dhawan, who is yet to recover from a finger injury and is likely to miss a few more games. With JP Duminy also out for the entire season, Hyderabad's batting order seems pretty brittle and the onus will be on Sangakkara and Cameron White to do most of the scoring.

In form player: Dale Steyn is arguably one of the best fast bowlers in the world and he lived up to his status with a tremendous bowling performance in Hyderabad's opening game, picking up three wickets in 3.5 overs while giving away just 11 runs. While the Bangalore side may boast some big-hitting batsmen, Steyn's recent show will keep them on their toes and the South African quick will be the key for the hosts who will be looking to make some early inroads and restrict the Bangalore batters.

Probable foreign players: Kumar Sangakkara, Cameron White, Dale Steyn and Thisara Perera.

Hits: While Steyn was in his elements with the ball, Amit Mishra showed that he too is a key member in Hyderabad's bowling department. He picked up the key wickets of Yuvraj Singh, Manish Pandey and Abhishek Nayar and conceded just 19 runs. His terrific showing earned him the Man of the Match award in that game and he will be hoping to extend his wicket taking form against Bangalore.

Thisara Perera too played a very important role against Pune, coming up with a fine all-round show. The Sri Lankan scored 30 crucial runs which enabled his side post a competitive total and also contributed with the ball, picking up 2 wickets for 29 runs. The Hyderabad team will be hoping that the all-rounder delivers again as they look to overcome the might of Bangalore.

Misses: Sangakkara and White are key batsmen in the Hyderabad line-up and in the absence of other star players, their role in steering the fortunes of the side is all the more important. However, both these players failed to live up to their reputation in the game against Pune, struggling to make an impact on a sluggish pitch. While the bowling department looks to be in safe hands with the presence of Steyn, Mishra and Ishant Sharma, Hyderabad need their batsmen to come up with better performances and especially need Sangakkara and White to give them that impetus with the bat.

Head to head: While this will be Bangalore's first game against the Sun Network owned Hyderabad side, they had played against the Hyderabad team owned by Hyderabad Chronicle 11 times and had tasted defeat in six of those games.

Quotes:

Obviously Chris has been magnificent for us. He has proved why he is the best Twenty20 player in the world and also showed us that he does not think about hard hitting, but thinks about the game as well. We are not worried about the tag attached to Chris: Virat Kohli does not mind his team being reliant on Gayle.

CB pick: Bangalore

BLR will have a slight edge over Hyderabad in this match, considering the star-studded line-up that the visitors have. Although Hyderabad's bowling department with Steyn and co. can provide Bangalore a stiff challenge, the hosts do not have the batting talents to match Bangalore and are likely to face their first defeat.

Teams:

Hyderabad (From): Kumar Sangakkara(c), Akshath Reddy, Amit Mishra, Anand Rajan, Ankit Sharma, Ashish Reddy, Bharat Chipli, Biplab Samantray, Cameron White, Chris Lynn, Dale Steyn, Dwaraka Ravi Teja, Ishant Sharma, Parthiv Patel(w), Shikhar Dhawan, Veer Pratap Singh, Quinton de Kock, Thisara Perera, Darren Sammy, Sudeep Tyagi, Nathan McCullum, Clint McKay, Thalaivan Sargunam, Sachin Rana, Karan Sharma, Hanuma Vihari

Bangalore (From): Virat Kohli(c), AB de Villiers, Abhimanyu Mithun, Abhinav Mukund, Andrew McDonald, Arun Karthik(w), Cheteshwar Pujara, Chris Gayle, Daniel Vettori, Harshal Patel, KP Appanna, Karun Nair, Mayank Agarwal, Muttiah Muralitharan, Prasanth Parameswaran, Vinay Kumar, Sandeep Warrier, Saurabh Tiwary, Sunny Sohal, Syed Mohammad Jamaluddin, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Vijay Zol, Zaheer Khan, RP Singh, Daniel Christian, Moises Henriques, Ravi Rampaul, Pankaj Singh, Jaidev Unadkat, Christopher Barnwell, Murali Kartik