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The brothers Pathan compete at opposite ends of the pitch for the fifth time in IPL history, with more than dining table bragging rights up for grabs between the two basement dwellers of the Indian Premier League as the Rajasthan Royals head to Mohali to take on the Kings XI Punjab. The two teams have a collective 4 points from 8 games and a loss for either, would pretty much signal the end of the line of their semi-final ambitions.

The Hosts
Punjab picked up a massive morale boosting win via a Super Over against Chennai on Sunday, coming back practically from the dead thanks to the heroics of their bowling unit lead my new signing Juan 'Rusty' Theron.

The Kings XI still look one of the worst batting units on present form, with Ravi Bopara doing a lion share of the run scoring so far in the series, and the holy triumverate of Kumar Sangakkara, Yuvraj Singh and Mahela Jayawardene failing miserably in most games so far. Of these, Yuvraj produced a better display in the win against Chennai and Mahela hit a crucial six in the Super Over to help the side to victory. However, with the international spots available being at a premium, and Mahela not contributing sufficiently, he might just lose his spot to the returning Shaun Marsh or young Adrian Barath, who was unceremonious dumped from the team after a solitary outing, that too in an unfamiliar role in the middle order.

The bowling unit did amazingly well to keep Chennai to 136 in the last match, and should retain their places on the back of that showing. The spin twins Piyush Chawla and Ramesh Powar, proved there is room for two specialist spinners in a T20 side and Rusty and Irfan Pathan pretty much pick themselves. The only spot that seems available is for the third seamer, however, former ICL superstar Shalabh Srivastava may not have done enough to keep S Sreesanth out. The erratic Kerala skipper can leak quite a few runs, but is more than capable of providing crucial breakthroughs as well, and must get some cricket if he is to stake a claim for the T20 World Cup squad.

(Read more about Kings XI Punjab vs. Chennai Super Kings)

The Visitors
The Rajasthan Royals earned their first win of the season on Saturday against a beleaguered Kolkata Knight Riders team which has begun its customary decent into the lower echelons of the Indian Premier League. As their reward, Rajasthan earned a four day holiday, a good time for the team to plot their assault for semi-final places with 10 games still left to play.

The addition of Australian middle order batsman Adam Voges to the playing eleven made a huge difference on Saturday with his international pedigree in ample view during his 22 ball stint at the wicket. Voges, 37 run unbeaten burst at the end of the innings was the difference between an average score and a competitive one, and Rajasthan may well think of pushing the left-hander up the order a bit to make the most of his ability.The pitch at Ahmedabad suited Rajasthan to a tee with Shane Warne looking much closer to match sharpness in comparison with the early games, and was instrumental in tying his opposite number in knots. Shaun Tait also produced a significantly improved display, not spraying the ball around like he did in the opening couple of games. The bounce at Mohali should excite both Tait and Warne and they should be quite a handful.

Abhishek Jhunjhunwala picked up the man of the match award in the last game, and appears to be settling down well to life in the IPL. He is averaging 39 in the tournament so far and anchors the Rajasthan innings while the other batsmen throw their bats around him. His contribution will be critical to Rajasthan putting on a decent score.

(Read more about Rajasthan's win against Kolkata)

Trump Cards

Yuvraj Singh: The former skipper appeared to be coming back into some kind of form during his brief innings of 43 from 28 balls against the Chennai Super Kings, followed by his super-over winning boundary. The Kings XI will need Yuvi to fire if they are to pick up their second win of the tournament.

Shane Warne: The master leg-spinner should is likely to be very hard to get away thanks to that extra little bite he is likely to extract from the Mohali turf. Count on Warney to run through the Punjab middle order, despite the presence of plenty of left-handers.

Head-2-Head
The teams have won two games apiece, one in each edition of the IPL. Both of Punjab's wins came batting first, including right here in Mohali when batting first the hosts piled on a massive 221 runs for the loss of just three wickets on the back of a century from young Shaun Marsh. The Royals, however, had already qualified for the semi-finals by then and fielded a significantly weakened squad, resting a number of key players. Despite that, Rajasthan did manage a decent 180 in response. Irfan Pathan bowled a miserly spell of 1-10 from his 4 overs, with the ball doing lots off the pitch.

In their last meeting, the Royals hammered Punjab by 78 runs, scoring in excess of 200 themselves, and restricting their ‘guests' to just 133 from their allotted 20 overs.

Likely Playing XI

KXIP: Bopara, Bisla, Sangakkara, Yuvraj, Jayawardene, Pathan, Kaif, Powar, Chawla, Juan Theron, Srivastava.

RR: Asnodkar, Lumb, Voges, N Ohja (wk), Jhunjhunwala, Y Pathan, Dogra, Trivedi, Warne (c), Tait, M Patel

Prediction: Both teams have now got that all important first win under their belt and are likely to draw strength from their recent success. Rajasthan are likely to come hard at Punjab, but with so many holes in their batting department, I just can't see the Royals posting a competitive total against a decent Punjab bowling attack. I'm going to need to go for a home win in this one.

Also Read:

Match Preview - Mumbai Indians vs. Kolkata Knight Riders

File Photograph Copyright: BwanaRSA

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2 Comments

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pratim March 22, 2010 118.102.184.46 Votes: +1	korbo lorobo jitbo .dadi fight for bengol.we shall over come report abuse vote down vote up
sanjana March 23, 2010 99.234.65.180 Votes: +2	i like this article. mostly coz it is early, and fun to read a preview of the match almost 2 days before... i think punjab has had really huge troubles in their batting dept, but after the last match, they are very high on spirits. i think the key will definitely be irfan and theron. irfan has really been their life savior, with the batting and bowling working great for the team. theron is a new guy, but seems very confident and calm a personality. yuvraj would be crucial as well. hopefully they do very well with all the pressure of a not must-win but crucial match for them. it is no different for RR, but still, i gotta admit, i also think KIXP would have the slight edge... bowling atleast! report abuse vote down vote up

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