Mighty Delhi take on fragile Rajasthan

Preview by Saurabh Somani

The Conditions
For the first time, the action moves away from Durban, Port Elizabeth and Cape Town to Centurion. The conditions, therefore, are more of an unknown quantity than for the other venues. History suggests, that the wicket should be even paced, with an equal contest between bat and ball.

Indian fans would remember this as the venue where Sachin Tendulkar composed one of his classic one-day knocks - a fierce 98 off just 75 balls against a Pakistani attack comprising Akram, Younis and Akhtar in the 2003 World Cup.
It has a seating capacity of 22,000.

The Teams
Both teams have lived up to the pre-tournament billing. Delhi has gotten off to a flyer, with a 100% win record, while Rajasthan has struggled, with some key players missing.

Delhi Daredevils: Have won all 3 matches played so far, without a major contribution from Gautam Gambhir and with just one cameo from Sehwag. With AB de Villiers and Dilshan in cracking form, Delhi has been able to afford the poor scores from its opening batsmen. However, it is just a matter of time before they fire, and when they do, Delhi will be hard to stop. The continuing mystery of the tournament has been their reluctance to play Glenn McGrath. His replacement, Dirk Nannes, has picked up a solitary wicket in 3 matches at an economy rate of 7.27 - hardly the figures that would prompt inclusion ahead of McGrath.

Rajasthan Royals: The team is under fire, and it hasn't helped that Graeme Smith has been out of sorts so far. He is the one man capable of taking the game by the scruff of the neck, but his lack of form is hurting Rajasthan badly. With only Yusuf Pathan hitting some form, Rajasthan need to beef up their batting. Their bowling has looked good, but even Kamran Khan and Shane Warne cannot do much if the batsmen fail to put up a decent score.
Contests to Watch

Virender Sehwag vs Shane Warne - If Viru is there at the crease when Warne comes on to bowl, it should be a fascinating contest. Will he emulate his idol Sachin Tendulkar in dismantling Warne? Or will Warnie prove once again, that old is gold?
Kamran Khan vs the Delhi top order - The young man playing the part of Cinderella in his fairytale will face a sterner test than any he has so far, when he takes on the mighty Delhi top order. If he proves equal to the task, then it might just herald the arrival of India's search for a third seamer.

Numbers Game:
131 - the difference in the number of runs scored so far by the Dilshan and AB de Villiers and Sehwag and Gambhir, after the first 3 matches in the IPL. AB and Dilshan have scored 243 runs between them, while Viru and Gauti have just 82 so far.
3 - the number of bowlers (minimum 10 overs) who have an economy rate of less than 5.0 in this year's tournament. Kamran Khan is joint second on the list with 4.90.
Trivia:
Kamran Khan has not played in any first class match before being picked for the Rajasthan Royals. In fact, most of the matches he played were with a tennis ball.