Mallya boys face Punjab Challenge

Down in the dumps after just two wins from eight outings, the Rahul Dravid-led Bangalore Royal Challengers face a must-win situation to keep their semifinal chances alive in the Indian Premier League when they take on the formidable Kings XI Punjab at Mohali on Monday (May 12). Placed at the bottom of the points table with, it's going to be a tall order for Dravid's team, which has been let down by its batsmen who put up a very ordinary batting display throughout the competition. Skipper Dravid has not been in great form in the competition which includes two ducks, but he can take solace from the fact that his single big knock of 66 came against the Punjab team in their earlier match. The Bangalore team had been bundled out for 126 by the Yuvraj Singh-led Kings XI in that match played at Bangalore on May 5. Having lost to Punjab earlier and low on morale owing to their below par performance, the Vijay Mallya owned outfit will need to put an extra-ordinary effort to pull itself out of the dumps.
The Challengers started their campaign on a losing note when they went down to Kolkata Knight Riders by a massive 140 runs and though they won the subsequent match against Mumbai by five wickets, they again lost three matches on the trot before registering a narrow three-run win against Deccan Chargers, another lowly team in the competition.
In their last match against Riders played at Kolkata, batting again let down the Challengers despite the fact that they were asked to chase a modest target of 129 in 16 overs in the rain-affected match.
Challengers' South African import Jacques Kallis has failed to impress so far, but wicketkeeper Mark Boucher's unbeaten knock of 50 in the last match and some of his previous knocks should offer a ray of hope to Challengers.
In the absence of injured Wasif Jaffer, Dravid and Shivnarine Chanderpaul will need to take more responsibility at the top order and build partnerships so that middle-order batsmen Kallis, Virat Kohli and Cameron White can go after the opponents in the remaining overs. South African pacer Dale Steyn, Zaheer Khan and Praveen Kumar have the capability to trouble batsmen and should find the good bounce offered by Mohali tracks to their liking. On the other hand, Kings XI have been on a roll having won five matches at a stretch, even though they lost their last match against the Chennai Super Kings.
However, that loss should not be much of a bother for the Punjab team, which has leading wicket taker Irfan Pathan and dangerous-looking Shaun Marsh in its ranks. Twenty-four-year old Australian left-hander Marsh has so far played four games and scored of 84, 40, 39 and 58. They enjoy a formidable batting line-up which also includes Yuvraj, Mahela Jayawardene and Ramnaresh Sarwan. Irfan has played some big knocks down the order, which adds strength to their batting. Teenaged leg spinner Piyush Chawla has been among the wickets and has also proved his mettle as a lower-order batsman, which makes him an asset for his team. S Sreesanth, too, has been bowling with a lot of discipline and makes the bowling attack look complete. The Preity Zinta co-owned Punjab team can also afford to experiment by promoting young wicket-keeper Uday Kaul up the order so that he gets a chance to prove himself. Dravid: Success in T20 may not be of help in longer versions
Bangalore Royal Challengers may be struggling to find their feet in the Indian Premier League, but skipper Rahul Dravid today said the youngsters should not get disheartened as performance in Twenty20 was not an indicator of a player's ability in longer version of the game. "Success in T20 may not automatically translate into success in the four-day Ranji or Tests," Dravid, whose team will take on Kings XI Punjab, told a pre-match press conference here. He said batsmen scoring runs in T20 cannot be rated as better batsmen because they will need to prove themselves in the longer version of the game. "T20 is unique and lot of young Indian players are excelling in this format. Whether they can take this confidence to the next level is debatable. It's not going to be easy and the skills with which you achieve success in T20 may not help you give you success in Ranji and Tests," he said. Asked whether the youngster playing this format are going to be good enough to perform in the longer versions, Dravid said, "It's hard to make that call and rate what is a good performance in this format."
Asked how he felt playing and captaining in this format and if this was the same as leading and playing for one's country, Dravid said "nothing can be equated to playing for one's country." Dravid, however, said the pressure of winning while playing for the country and for a franchise was the same. "Whichever team you are a part of, you want to win and want to do well," he said.
On his team's performance which is placed at the bottom of the points table, Dravid admitted that "below par" batting had let them down. "We have not batted the way we would have liked to. It has been a bit below par, which has cost us some games. Probably, we will do better next time," he said. On criticism that the Royal Challengers were more of a Test side and not suited for the Twenty20 format, Dravid said, "Even other teams are not doing well, some of whom had been rated much higher than us. We still have got six games to go and it's a great opportunity for us to bounce back. If we don't, it will be a disappointment for us and our franchise."
"T20 is constantly changing, evolving and teams are trying different things. Everyone is learning here and even the bowlers are learning how to cope (in the batsman-oriented format)," he said.