Can Bangalore Get It Right ?

This is the opportunity for Bangalore to take that one step up and make inroads in this IPL Championship. So far their victories have come against the so-called "weaker" sides. Besides the advantage that they had gained from their narrow win over Hyderabad has been negated by Mumbai's win yesterday. Mumbai is sitting in a relatively pretty position at No. 5 while Bangalore are languishing at No. 7.

A win over a very strong team like the KXP would do their morale a world of good. For the past 3 games now Bangalore have been steadily improving only to botch it up at the end. But there are a couple of issues that need to be sorted out.

One, is the top order batting. I cannot believe that Chipli, Jaffer and Kohli can be your top 3 at this level. Dravid has to give up his adamancy and bring in Chanderpaul to open. This means that he has to drop one of Kallis/Boucher/Misbah/Steyn. Kallis has been poor with bat and ball, but just showed signs of returning to form with the ball in the last game. They do need Kallis as the backup bowler since there is no one else who can fill in the fifth bowler's slot. Boucher has been a disappointment with the bat other than one innings in Mumbai. Misbah has had just the one outing in which he got a shocker, and he is a legend in this format of the game. Steyn, is crucial to the attack. So I guess Boucher has to be the one to make way. Goswami can don the keeper's gloves in his abscence. Kohli is talented, but not yet mature enough. He will be better off batting at No. 6.

For KXP, the form of their fast bowlers would be most heartening. As, indeed, that of Chawla. Shaun Marsh has been a revelation. Yuvraj is yet to fire and when he does, he can just put the opposition out of the game in the space of two overs. Sangakkara and Jayawardene have been patchy but threatening. All in all, it is a very strong team full of confidence. The only thing that can go against them though is the Law of Averages.

Bangalore have a chance to pull one back. But for that they need to get their combination right.