Daijiworld Media Network
Dubai, Apr 28 : Gear-up folks.. Punjab are in a huddle. Big Gayle and Little Parthiv stride out to the middle. Ah! Gayle shadow practices the forward defensive push. Maxi to open the attack.
Kohli: 'I would have liked to bowl first as well. We have two changes with Chris Gayle coming in for Ravi Rampaul and Varun Aaron replacing Sachin Rana. We can't focus on the last game we played. We had a few unfortunate dismissals. I have never seen an innings like that from any team. We have won two convincing games and came close towards winning the third. Today, everybody is feeling good and fresh. It looks a good batting wicket.'
Bailey: 'We are having a bowl first. We chase reasonably well. We are not sure about what would be a good total here. We are playing the same team. We have to keep doing the basics well. We have had good even contributions. Bangar is calm and he has a great understanding of the younger players. It is an outstanding stadium.'
Match Preview
Left in disarray after consecutive losses, Bangalore face the arduous task of taming the yet-to-be-beaten table-toppers Punjab when the two sides clash in an Indian T20 League match in Dubai on Monday.
Bangalore:
Bangalore, sans West Indian marauder Chris Gayle who is nursing a sore back, were completely outplayed in their most recent match against Rajasthan. Their star-studded batting line-up collapsed to the third lowest Indian T20 League total ever before Rajasthan made short work of the paltry 71-run target in Abu Dhabi on Saturday. Except for skipper Virat Kohli, none of the Bangalore batsmen could make any noteworthy contribution.
Yuvraj Singh has been getting decent knocks but the pace of his scoring remains a concern while AB de Villiers too has not contributed anything substantial so far. Saturday's loss was a crushing one and Kohli wants to forget it as quickly as possible but it would be quite a task for his team to turn it around against Punjab, by far the most consistent team of the season so far.
Bangalore bowlers have been on the mark so far and the team management will be hoping that they can extend their good work. The bowlers, despite defending only 70, showed good fighting spirit with Mitchell Starc and Ravi Rampaul bowling well. Ashok Dinda has not done too badly either, after an expensive outing at the start, while young leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal has been very impressive.
Punjab:
Barring the game against Kolkata, which was won by their bowlers, Punjab's batsmen, especially Glenn Maxwell and David Miller, have been in murderous form. It would require a very special effort to stop them, something that Kolkata's spin combo of Sunil Narine and Piyush Chawla managed to do on Saturday before Punjab produced some magic of their own with the ball through the pace pair of Sandeep Sharma and Mitchell Johnson.
A big positive for Punjab is senior opener Virender Sehwag's return to some form. The veteran, who has fallen out of national reckoning, is slowly getting back into the groove with some decent contributions in the past couple of matches. But Cheteshwar Pujara is still finding his feet in the format even though his individual form has not yet hurt the team too much. Skipper Bailey too will be hoping to come good with the bat as he has not done anything noteworthy so far.
The Punjab bowlers went for quite a few in their first two games, but have shown a lot of improvement since then. The likes of L Balaji, Sharma, Johnson and Akshar Patel have done a good job in the last couple of matches and Punjab will be hoping that they continue their good work in the upcoming games.
Team News:
Chris Gayle's fitness still remains a concern and it is to be seen if he takes part in this game after missing four matches so far. In case he is fit, one of Albie Morkel or Ravi Rampaul is likely to make way. Varun Aaron, who bowled superbly against Kolkata, did not play against Rajasthan, probably due to a niggle. He is likely to be back for this game. Punjab, meanwhile are likely to go in with an unchanged eleven.
Quotes:
I believe we are a much better batting unit than this. It was one of those days that we need to forget quickly: Virat Kohli, after Bangalore were bowled out for 70 by Rajasthan.
I've started the tournament quite slowly, coming back from my toe infection and it has taken me a few games to get into it: Mitchell Johnson says he is slowly getting back to his best.
Teams:
Punjab (From): Cheteshwar Pujara, Virender Sehwag, George Bailey(c), Glenn Maxwell, David Miller, Wriddhiman Saha(w), Akshar Patel, Rishi Dhawan, Mitchell Johnson, Lakshmipathy Balaji, Sandeep Sharma, Anureet Singh, Gurkeerat Singh, Parvinder Awana, Mandeep Singh, Shaun Marsh, Thisara Perera, Beuran Hendricks, Karanveer Singh, Manan Vohra, Murali Kartik, Shivam Sharma, Shardul Thakur
Bangalore (From): Parthiv Patel(w), Yogesh Takawale, Virat Kohli(c), AB de Villiers, Yuvraj Singh, Albie Morkel, Mitchell Starc, Ashok Dinda, Ravi Rampaul, Yuzvendra Chahal, Varun Aaron, Muttiah Muralitharan, Vijay Zol, Abu Nechim, Sachin Rana, Shadab Jakati, Sandeep Warrier, Chris Gayle, Harshal Patel, Nic Maddinson, Tanmay Mishra