Expect some royal fireworks

Match facts

Saturday, April 19, 2008
Start time 17:00 local, (11:30 GMT)

	Yuvraj versus Dhoni: a good way to build hype? © AFP

The Big Picture

The second match of the tournament features the Chennai Super Kings taking on Kings XI Punjab in Mohali - and it's being touted as Royal Saturday. From an Indian perspective there's a buzz around this game given that six of India's ICC World Twenty20-winning squad, and some of the most expensive acquisitions, will be pitted together. No other match-up includes so many such players and that's obviously a big draw. Chennai are lead by Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who after the Twenty20 victory was snapped up for a whopping US$1.5 million. On the other side is Yuvraj Singh, he of the six consecutive sixes in the World Twenty20, leading a team of this magnitude for the first time. Punjab are a very young and promising team, with only three players over 30, whereas Chennai's strengths lie in their batting. How each cope with the other's strengths, and smooth over their own weaknesses - Chennai have solid batsmen but are thin in the bowling stakes, while Punjab lack a potent spinner - will determine the winner of this contest.

Watch out for ...

Yuvraj has already spoken of the mini-battle that the contest is likely to throw up between him and Dhoni. "It's a good way to build the hype (around the competition) by pitching it as a Yuvraj versus Dhoni contest," Yuvraj said. "Maybe, I will share a joke with him after the game." Dhoni, however, will play in the side as a specialist batsman with Parthiv Patel set to keep wicket.

Matthew Hayden and Brett Lee have terrorized opposing teams for a few years now but now it's going to be one versus the other. Hayden's domination with the bat has extended into the Twenty20 format and it's unlikely he will change his approach against Lee, who is at the top of his game. Lee will know Hayden's penchant for walking down the track, so expect a few tricks.

Another contest with the makings of a classic is Kumar Sangakkara versus Muttiah Muralitharan. Sangakkara has kept admirably to Murali all over the world, and has no doubt faced up to him plenty of times in the nets; but in front of a huge crowd, with so much at stake? Keep your eyes on Sanga v Murali.

Team news

Punjab will have to decide who among Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardene and Ramnaresh Sarwan sits out. Sangakkara keeps wicket and Sarwan is due to fly back for an ODI series against Australia, so Jayawardene may have to sit out this one. There are no specialist international openers, so Sangakkara could partner James Hopes at the top, though Sahil Kukreja is an option. Karan Goel could slot into the middle order with Tanmay Srivastava, the Under-19 allrounder. Lee and Sreesanth are almost certain to share the new ball, with Hopes and Irfan Pathan to follow. That means Kyle Mills will miss out, with either the two Sri Lankans or Sarwan likely to come in to complete the overseas quota. Piyush Chawla, the legspinner, should make up the spin quotient.

Punjab (likely) 1 Kumar Sangakkara (wk), 2 James Hopes, 3 Sahil Kukreja, 4 Ramnaresh Sarwan, 5 Yuvraj Singh (capt), 6 Irfan Pathan, 7 Tanmay Srivastava, 8 Karan Goel, 9 Brett Lee, 10 Piyush Chawla, 11 Sreesanth.

The team that spent the most money in the main auction has a host of talent. Dhoni has proved to be a smart captain in limited-overs cricket, and in Hayden and Stephen Fleming, Chennai have a couple of excellent, dominant batsmen. Jacob Oram has a key role to play with bat and ball, so he could be preferred to Michael Hussey. S Badrinath and Suresh Raina make up the Indian talent. Explosive allrounder Albie Morkel isn't around till the third game, which means Joginder Sharma will fill that slot. R Ashwin and Manpreet Gony will back up Murali. Dhoni won't be keeping in the first few games, which means Parthiv will fill that role.

Chennai (likely) 1 Matthew Hayden, 2 Stephen Fleming, 3 S Badrinath, 4 Suresh Raina, 5 Jacob Oram, 6 Mahendra Singh Dhoni (capt), 7 Parthiv Patel (wk), 8 S Vidyut, 9 Joginder Sharma, 10 Manpreet Gony, 11 Muttiah Muralitharan.

Stats and trivia

Hayden has the most international Twenty20 runs out of all the other overseas players in Chennai: 308 at 51.33, at a strike-rate of 143.92, with four half-centuries.

Sreesanth's spell of 2 for 12 in four overs against Australia in the Twenty20 World Cup is the second-best four-over spell in a Twenty20 international in terms of economy rate, after Syed Rasel's 1 for 10 versus West Indies in the same tournament.

In eight Twenty20 matches Murali has taken 17 wickets at an average of 9.17 and an economy rate of 5.37 runs per over. He has twice taken four in an innings.

Quotes

"I will be bowling at Sachin Tendulkar, Adam Gilchrist, Mahela Jayawardene, Kumar Sangakkara. They all know me well, particularly Kumar, still it will be a challenge to bowl at them. I will like to bowl them out for a duck and that too on the very first ball they face."
Murali

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