Delhi takes on Bangalore in home match

Delhi's players were seen practising at Delhi Stadium on Monday.

Delhi takes on mighty Bangalore today at 0800 PM. If this match was earlier, it would have been a Clash of the Dwarfs ! Now Gayle has lit IPL with his presence. His 102 not out pulled Bangalore out of slumberland and shook the West Indian Board to the core. The WI selectors did not know what hit them. This is a man who scored a hundred at the first match of the first T20 WC ! No wonder he did it again for IPL.

"He wont be the only man in form" said Greg Shippard, the coach of the DDD. " You cannot do much if he gets going, just hope he mis-hits or skies it....They are almost half the Delhi team, aren't they? It is like playing Old Delhi and New Delhi. They will also be on familiar ground. Hopefully we are beginning to develop some momentum after our last win".

On the contrary, Vettori was exuberant that Bangalore has got Gayle. Said the wily NZ all rounder " Gayle's inclusion is a confidence builder to the team. He bowls and fields well and gives us a lot of balance. With the likes of Kohli, De Villiers, Dilshan, Pujara, Tiwary, we have enough X factor in the team."

"Bowlers need to be on top. Particularly when bowling to the Delhi bomber ( Sehwag ). I have played a lot against Sehwag in international cricket. We have made strategies against him in the past but they have not always worked. We need to be on top of our bowling".

The great all rounder said the Zaheer will be spearheading Bangalore attack and RCB will be targeting the best opening pair in the IPL, Warner and Sehwag ( They put on 146 runs for the first wicket, off 11.4 overs ).

"On the day, you need one of your bowlers to step up. It is important that Zaheer and myself start well because we are the key bowlers".

Ray Jennings, the RCB coach, said he is not disturbed by the lack of form of Zaheer, who will bounce back to form !

"Zaheer is the kind of player who will take 4/5 wickets. He is a match winner and his form is the biggest motivation for his comeback", said the formidable coach.

"If we win on Tuesday, it will brighten our chances in IPL. The table is tight and if we can win this game, we move to the top four" said Vettori.

Similarly it is time DDD's bowlers delivered. The pace trio of Morkel, Pathan and Aaron is a formidable trio indeed and they have to deliver, if DDD is to move to the top four !

It will be very interesting that today's match will be on a green top and DDD had performed well against Punjab on this turf, scoring 231 !

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