Can Gujarat Lions stop Virat? We’ll know today

Bengaluru, May 23 

With the conclusion of the league phase, the stage is set for the IPL playoffs. In the first qualifier, a rampaging Royal Challengers Bangalore will take on Gujarat Lions here tomorrow. 

Having won four of their last league games on the trot, the Virat Kohli-led RCB finished second in the points table while Suresh Raina’s Gujarat Lions finished atop the table.

While the winning team on Tuesday will book a place in the final, the losing team will get to play in the second qualifier against the winner of the eliminator for a place in the title clash.

In the first qualifier, RCB will have the advantage of playing at their home ground. The Bangalore team, runners-up in 2009 and 2011, will hope for a solid start from the in-form batting trio of skipper Kohli, West Indian Chris Gayle and South African veteran AB de Villiers. 

With 919 runs so far in the tournament with four hundreds and five half-centuries, Kohli could become the first player to score 1,000 runs in an IPL edition. 

The bowling department, which had been a weak link for the side in the earlier part of the league phase, has also pulled up its socks in the last few matches. With 19 wickets so far, leg-spinner Chahal is the purple cap holder while Australian all-rounder Watson is fifth on the highest wicket-getters’ list with 16 wickets.

Raina, on the other hand, has led debutants Gujarat from the front with back-to-back half-centuries in the final two league matches. Apart from Raina, the batting will centre around West Indian Dwayne Smith, former New Zealand skipper Brendon McCullum, Australian Aaron Finch and stumper Dinesh Karthik.

Gujarat also boast of quality all-rounders in Dwayne Bravo and Ravindra Jadeja. The bowling department has some variety with chinaman Shivil Kaushik being one of the finds of the tournament. Besides, veteran medium-pacer Praveen Kumar has also been impressive with his new ball partner Dhawal Kulkarni. — IANS

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