Daredevils hope to get off the mark

Every season,the IPL has unfailingly produced one team that ends up being plagued by misery and misfortune,finding new ways of losing and snatching losses from the jaws of certain victory

Every season,the IPL has unfailingly produced one team that ends up being plagued by misery and misfortune,finding new ways of losing and snatching losses from the jaws of certain victory.

This year,its no secret that the bogey team of IPL VI so far has been the Delhi Daredevils. If four losses out of four games isnt bad enough,the Daredevils will be ruing their inability to finish off the Sunrisers in a low-scoring affair at home in their previous outing.

Royal Challengers Bangalore,meanwhile,have been the most entertaining team of the tournament. Three of their five matches have finished off the final delivery,including one going into the Super Over.

And though historically,the two have started off on an even keel,there is an unmistakable tinge of one-sidedness as RCB and the Daredevils face-off at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore on Tuesday.

DARE THE DEVIL

Chris Gayle can present a demonic challenge for opponents anywhere they come up against him in a T20 scenario. But the Jamaican giant has especially proved an indomitable force at RCBs home,closing in on 1000 IPL runs at an average of 57.82 in 20 innings at Chinnaswamy. And with Delhi possessing no spinners of quality in their mix,their pace-centric attack might have to contend with a fierce Gayle tornado yet again.

POISON ENVY

WHILE Gayle has been busy smashing balls into the stands across the country,Delhis big-hitters,Warner and Sehwag,have hardly set the IPL on fire this time around. Being on the same field as Gayle might be just the filip that the Daredevils dynamic opening duo require to shake off their cobwebs and launch their own belligerent assaults. Well,thats what Delhi will be hoping for anyway.

PACING IT RIGHT

With Morne Morkel and Umesh Yadav on one side and Ravi Rampaul on the other,there is sure to be a barrage of pace on show in Bangalore.

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But so far,its been the cunning changes of pace from Vinay Kumar that have made the real difference for RCB,and the canny Karnataka pacer is among the highest wicket-takers in IPL VI presently.

Meanwhile,with Rampaul having shone with the ball in his maiden IPL outing,it will be interesting to see who RCB drop in order to bring back Muttiah Muralitharan into the mix.