Battle of the bats in the offing
Cricinfo previews the second semi-final between Chennai Super Kings and Deccan Chargers
Match facts
Thursday, April 22Start time 2000 (1430 GMT)
Big Picture
All the headlines over the past couple of weeks have been dealing with the off-field shenanigans of administrators and franchise owners, but in the same period Deccan Chargers have, almost without notice, knitted together five wins to finish the league, against all odds, in second spot. The middle-order trio of T Suman, Rohit Sharma and Andrew Symonds has been crucial to the turnaround, made all the more remarkable as it came on the back of five consecutive morale-sapping defeats. After the final-over choke against Rajasthan Royals, they have shown much more composure in similar situations thereafter to pull off some crucial victories. Deccan have also overcome the disadvantage of having no real home games, or the comfort of a partisan crowd backing them.Form guide (most recent first)
Deccan Chargers WWWWWChennai Super Kings WLWLW
Team talk
Chennai's overseas players haven't been as influential as the foreign recruits in most of the other teams. Doug Bollinger is one who has consistently delivered, but Dhoni will mostly have to pick the out-of-form Matthew Hayden and Albie Morkel. Justin Kemp could also be needed to give the side options, especially with all the Indian fast bowlers struggling.Previously…
Deccan 4 Chennai 2Deccan have won both matches between the sides this IPL with ease: They piled on 190 at the MA Chidambaram Stadium to cruise to a 31-run victory, before trumping by six wickets in Nagpur.
In the spotlight
Adam Gilchrist has had a forgettable tournament so far, but he's one of the game's great big-match players. Last season, he stopped the in-form Delhi Daredevils in the semi-finals with a breathtaking onslaught on their spearhead, Dirk Nannes. Can he repeat that performance again?Prime numbers and trivia
- Deccan (39) and Chennai (32) have conceded the most sixes in the league phase while bowling at the death (last six overs)
- Tyagi has had a horror tournament - an average of 159 combined with an economy rate of 10.04. That economy rate though is better than several competitors to the local fast-bowling slot, like Manpreet Gony and Joginder Sharma
- The match features the three highest run-getters in the IPL: Raina, Gilchrist and Rohit
Chatter
"T20 is a lottery, but we couldn't use that excuse anymore, so we planned every tiny aspect of the game right from what kind of shots to play after losing a wicket to how wide or slow to bowl to a batsman in the slog overs."Deccan coach Darren Lehmann says the team's turnaround is no fluke
Siddarth Ravindran is a sub-editor at Cricinfo