Fake IPL Players Blog: It's decision time folks

Yet another intense fielding session. And not surprisingly, hardly any dropped catches during practice. Looks like we always save our best for the real thing

2-3 changes are expected in the side for this game. But, it's almost sure that that Lordie's playing. Don't know whether Skipper pushed it through, or a late night call from Dildo did the trick, or the "warning" comments on this blog made the decision, but Lordie's in. Skipper and Lordie chatted for a longish period during training. Skipper has asked Lordie if he'd like to open today. Bhookha was opposed to the idea till yesterday, but speculation is rife that Bhookha may play along thinking that this is a better way to get rid of him than not letting him bat at all.

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Match Preview: Chennai Super King vs Rajasthan Royals

Ground reality and pitch:
Formerly known as the Kimberly Country Club, the De Beers Oval is home to the Grinqualand West cricket team. With a seating capacity 11,000, the De Beers Oval was specially designed for the ODI format. The wicket at the De Beers is an ideally designed ODI pitch inclined to favour the batsmen.

Temperatures: Min - 45F Max - 70F | Humidity: 91% | Conditions: Sunny

Team Updates:
Chennai: Chennai have had a good outing recently, with four consecutive wins. The batting has been firing all along with the retired Australian Matthew Hayden leading the charge and Suresh Raina and Dhoni in good form. In bowling department, Laxmipathi Balaji has been in fine touch with 11 wickets from seven matches while veteran Muttiah Muralitharan and little known Shadab Jakati have been doing wonders for Chennai in the spin department. One area of concern for Chennai has been the fielding. Dhoni was understandably angry with the shoddy fielding of his side during the last match. He would expect his team-mates to pull up their socks as Chennai aim at notching up their fifth win.

Rajasthan: Rajasthan had a huge blow when Shane Watson was ruled out of the IPL after suffering a groin injury. With their two bowlers Kamran Khan and Amit Singh reported for suspect action, Rajsthan would count on the likes of Munaf Patel and their captain Shane Warne to come up with good spells while bowling against the formidable batting line-up of Chennai. Rajasthan's batting has looked good with their stroke-makers Graeme Smith, Naman Ojha, Yusuf Pathan and Ravindra Jadeja being amongst runs. Shane Warne would look for a good performance from his side as they are looking to avenge their defeat in the last match against Chennai.

Contests to watch:
Dhoni vs. Warne: The explosive Indian captain has looked in good touch during the recent games. Kimberly would be witness to a mouthwatering clash when MS Dhoni and the Australian Spin Wizard Shane Warne face-off.
Pathan vs. Muralitharan: Yusuf has been a revelation in the shortest form of cricket. However, his ability to power the ball out of the stadium would be put to test when he faces the Sri Lankan Maestro Muralitharan.

Trivia:
Besides having the same points (11), Chennai and Rajasthan have the same number of wins (five), losses (three) and no results (one) after playing 9 games each, so far in the 2009 edition of the IPL.

Which cricketer has the best bowling figures in a innings on ODI debut? Answer and win KF Air tickets

Teams:
Chennai Super Kings (From): Matthew Hayden, Subramaniam Badrinath, Suresh Raina, Mahendra Singh Dhoni(w/c), Albie Morkel, George Bailey, Shadab Jakati, Sudeep Tyagi, Laxmipathy Balaji, Manpreet Gony, Muttiah Muralitharan, Joginder Sharma, Arun Karthik, Parthiv Patel, Jacob Oram, Makhaya Ntini, Mike Hussey, Murali Vijay, Palani Amarnath, Ravichandran Ashwin, Thilan Thushara, Viraj Kadbe

Rajasthan Royals (From): Graeme Smith, Naman Ojha(w), Lee Carseldine, Yusuf Pathan, Ravindra Jadeja, Niraj Patel, Abhishek Raut, Shane Warne(c), Morne Morkel, Amit Singh, Munaf Patel, Dimitri Mascarenhas, Tyron Henderson, Mahesh Rawat, Kamran Khan, Aditya Angle, Swapnil Asnodkar, Atul Sharma, Gajendra Singh, Mohammad Arif, Parag More, Paul Valthaty, Raiphi Gomez, Rob Quiney, Shane Watson, Shane Harwood, Shaun Tait, Siddharth Trivedi, Siddharth Chitnis, Sumit Khatri

All About Latest Sports Action: Shadab Jakati spins Chennai Super Kings to top

The spinners continue to dominate the second edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) being held in South Africa and it was the turn of the left-armer Shadab Jakati to steal the limelight for the second time running in a matter of three days.

He has spun Chennai Super Kings to the top of the points table, having returned his second successive four-wicket haul, something that’s rather unusual in the shortest version of the game. He had earlier engineered the victory for his team over Delhi Daredevils with the magnificent figures of 4 for 24.

All About Latest Sports Action: Shadab Jakati spins Chennai Super Kings to top

Match Preview: Royal Challengers Bangalore vs Mumbai Indians

Ground Reality and pitch: Situated south of Sandton in Illovo, Wanderers nicknamed 'The Bullring' is the home of the Highveld Lions. This ground goes down in history as hosting one of the greatest ODI matches when South Africa chased down a colossal target of 434 runs set by Australia. Wanderers posts a hard wicket providing assistance to the seamers. The bounce is also favoured by the batsmen because the ball comes on to the bat quicker enabling better strokes.

Humidity: 88% | Chances of Rain: Showers expected

Team Updates:

Bangalore: Gradually finding its feet in the Indian Premier League, Royal Challengers Bangalore will aim to spring another surprise when it takes on the in-form Mumbai Indians for the first time in the tournament's second edition. Back to back wins over Kolkata Knight Riders and Kings XI Punjab in the last two matches has not just lifted the Royal Challengers' spirit but has also helped the team rise from the bottom to fifth in the points table. The side's regular skipper USD 1.55 million buy, Kevin Pietersen, has left for national duty after leading it to the win over Knight Riders but it didn't seem to have affected the side much the other night when it stunned fourth-placed Punjab.

Mumbai: The Mumbai team is in good form. After the narrow defeat against Kings XI, the Sachin Tendulkar-led outfit bounced back to beat the struggling Knight Riders. The team is currently third on the points table with three wins from six matches, one of which was washed out. J P Duminy, who was subdued in the early part of the tournament, is now also among the runs after notching two half centuries in as many matches against Punjab and Kolkata. Mumbai's explosive batting gives it a slight edge over Royal Challengers.
Contest to watch:

Tendulkar vs. Kumble: One is a master batsman while the other is a wily craftsman in the art of spin bowling. The old war horses of Indian cricket would face-off at the 'Bullring' much to the delight of the cricket fans around the world.

Numbers game:
11: The number of wickets taken by Lasit Malinga in the IPL 2009
7: The number of catches taken by Virat Kohli in this edition of IPL
8.50: Jesse Ryder's batting average in the IPL 2009
About whom did Fred Trueman say this: "I sometimes used to wonder, in his playing days, if he realised just how great a bowler he was. When he was really spinning the ball, you could actually hear the fingers click as he delivered. He really was a prodigious finger spinner". Answer and win KF Airtickets

Teams:

Mumbai Indians (From): Sachin Tendulkar(c), Sanath Jayasuriya, Ajinkya Rahane, Jean-Paul Duminy, Abhishek Nayar, Graham Napier, Saurabh Tiwary, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Pinal Shah(w), Lasith Malinga, Rohan Raje, Dwayne Bravo, Shikhar Dhawan, Chetanya Nanda, Dhawal Kulkarni, Dilhara Fernando, Jaydev Shah, Kyle Mills, Luke Ronchi, Mohammad Ashraful, Rahil Shaikh, Ryan McLaren, Yogesh Takawale

Bangalore Royal Challengers (From): Jesse Ryder, Shreevats Goswami, Jacques Kallis, Rajesh Bishnoi, Robin Uthappa, Virat Kohli, Mark Boucher(w), Roelof van der Merwe, Praveen Kumar, Anil Kumble(c), KP Appanna, Balachandra Akhil, Vinay Kumar, Dale Steyn, Abhmanyu Mithun, Bharat Chipli, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Cameron White, Devraj Patil, Dillon du Preez, Gaurav Dhiman, Ishank Jaggi, Jagadeesh Arunkumar, Jitendra Patil, Karan Sharma, Kedar Jadhav, Manish Pandey, Muralidharen Gautam, Nathan Bracken, Pankaj Singh, Raju Bhatkal, Rohit Sabharwal, Ross Taylor, Saurabh Bandekar, Sreenath Aravind, Sunil Joshi, Tinu Yohannan, Udit Patel, Wasim Jaffer