02 May,2009 08:17 AM IST | | PTI
Having suffered their first defeat in the tournament, table toppers Deccan Chargers will seek to return to winning ways when they clash with an unpredictable Rajasthan Royals in the Indian Premier League here today.
Although the Chargers' fairytale campaign was stopped on Thursday by the Delhi Daredevils, the Hyderabad outfit is a formidable opponent for the Royals and are sitting pretty at the top with with four wins out of five matches. Tagged as laggards last year, the Chargers have been a revelation in this edition of the T20 tournament and looked unstopabble till yesterday when Daredevils defeated them by six wickets.
The Chargers' will be relying heavily on captain Adam Gilchrist and Herschelle Gibbs, who flopped for the first time in the event against the Daredevils, to fire up front as the duo played a significant role in their success so far.
Gilchrist and Gibbs have been in rampaging form and have blown away their opponents with their power hitting.
Boasting of names like Rohit Sharma and Dwayne Smith, who hit a 28-ball 48-run innings against the Daredevils yesterday, the Chargers middle order looks impressive. Except for one bad outing against the Daredevils, the Hyderabad team's bowling department has also looked in good shape with RP Singh leading from the front and young Pragyan Ojha emerging as a new talent in India's spin department.
On the other hand, with two victories out of six matches, Shane Warne's Rajasthan Royals, are at the bottom half of the points table.
The defending champions'u00a0 unpredictability can be ascertained from the fact that just after their five-wicket triumph over formidable Daredevils on Tuesday, they slumped to a 38-run loss to a struggling Chennai Super Kings on Friday. Batting continues to remain a concern area for the Royals with the top three Graeme Smith, Rob Quiney and Swapnil Asnodkar emerging as a big disappointment.
The defending champions are depending heavily on Yusuf Pathan to come good which is putting extra pressure on the right-hander.
