Slow starters Victoria face dominant Chennai

Match facts

Saturday, September 18
Start time 1730 (1530 GMT)

You know all is not quite right when an Australian cricket side is neither wearing yellow nor dominating a tournament. It gets slightly more confusing when the said side's next opposition both wears yellow and has been dominating the event, having scored 154 more runs than what it has conceded in two games.

Victoria Bushrangers and Chennai Super Kings, Australian and Indian champions, now stand at the cusp of a delicate stage in what could become a three-team race in Group A. Central Districts Stags and Wayamba Elevens have been easy pickings, and should the other three teams continue beating them, this match could actually decide the semi-finalists. Victoria have already lost to the Eastern Cape Warriors, the third strong team in the group. They can't afford a repeat.

To prevent another loss is not going to be easy, going purely by the form book. The defeat against the Warriors was a comprehensive one, and they just about managed to scrape past Central Districts. Now they are up against a team that is good enough to leave Michael Hussey out. That team is a win short of securing passage through to the semis.

Team news

Matthew Hayden has become an interesting conundrum. He struggled throughout the second half of the IPL, and has scored 10 off 19 balls in two Champions League innings. There is also this feeling that somewhere around the corner could be a match-winning knock. At the same time, he is keeping out Hussey. Knowing MS Dhoni the captain, though, Hayden should play: Dhoni has given a longer run to players who've performed much worse.

Chennai Super Kings (possible): 1 M Vijay, 2 Matthew Hayden, 3 Suresh Raina, 4 S Badrinath, 5 MS Dhoni (capt. & wk), 6 S Anirudha, 7 Albie Morkel, 8 Doug Bollinger, 9 R Ashwin, 10 Muttiah Muralitharan, 11 L Balaji.

Victoria will hope Brad Hodge is fit again after having missed the game against Central Districts due to illness. They benefitted from Peter Siddle's comeback ahead of Shane Harwood, but Bryce McGain - back to the country where he made a horrendous Test debut - gave too many loose balls to Central Districts. It will be interesting to see if they give him, the only specialist spinner in the squad, another game.

Victoria Bushrangers (possible) 1 Rob Quiney, 2 Brad Hodge, 3 Aaron Finch, 4 David Hussey (capt.), 5 Andrew McDonald, 6 Matthew Wade (wk), 7 John Hastings, 8 Clint McKay, 9 Peter Siddle, 10 Bryce McGain/James Pattinson, 11 Dirk Nannes

Watch out for ...

Amid Victoria's troubles, Dirk Nannes has slipped in eight overs for just 51 runs. Add the eight leg-byes, through his ill-directed first deliveries of the two matches, and those figures start looking slightly less impressive. Moreover, he has taken just one wicket in those eight overs. He will want to do better, way better.

Muttiah Muralitharan had passed his 38th birthday when he retired from Tests, but with the workload off his back he has been jumping around like a teenager and ripping those doosras with such enthusiasm that will make you think he has just chanced upon the delivery. The small St George's Park boundaries will be his big test, though.

Key contests

Victoria pace v Chennai top order: The match will be made or broken here. Nannes and Siddle will be charged up, Clint Mckay and John Hastings will be deceptive with the slower balls; facing them will be a top order that looted 200 off Wayamba in their previous game. Suresh Raina and M Vijay will get bouncers, and chances are, the slightest error in lengths will be punished.

Stats and trivia

• Brad Hodge holds the record for most 50-plus scores in all Twenty20s, 23. On that count, Suresh Raina is the highest among Chennai batsmen, with 14 scores of over 50 and over.