IPL 2009 - Openers hold the key for Deccan

DECCAN Chargers’ (Even) captain Adam Gilchrist has denied his team’s form slump is anything more than a ‘hiccup’ as they try to recapture their Indian Premier League winning ways against the Mumbai Indians (-140) today.

But his comments to the media after his team’s 79-run loss to Chennai Super Kings in match sounded more self-encouraging than reality and although your IPL betting options are limited with only the one game, that shouldn’t stop punters from jumping on the match in a big way.

“It’s a half-way point, at the start of the tournament if you had said that the Deccan Chargers are going to be four and three going by what happened last year, a lot of people may have doubted that,” Gilchrist said.

Still, two of their three losses have come when their openers have failed.

Their first loss of the tournament came against Delhi Daredevils on April 30 with Gilchrist (8) and fellow opener Herschelle Gibbs (0) failing, while their last match against Chennai Super Kings, Deccan were left reeling at 3/1 after 2.2 overs after Albie Morkel claimed Gilchrist lbw first ball of the innings before claiming VVS Laxman for a duck while Sudeep Tyagi bowled Herschelle Gibbs to have Deccan in all sorts. They were eventually rolled for 100 chasing 179.

Fourth placed Deccan (P7/W4/L3) will need West Indies’ Dwayne Smith and India’s Tirumalsetti Suman to fire if the top order can’t, something Gilchrist is certain the pair can do.

“I thought Dwayne Smith has shown several times in several games that he is capable of contributing. Suman is showing some great signs, some really encouraging signs,” he said.

When the two teams met earlier in the tournament in Match 12 on April 25, it is no surprise Deccan’s win over the currently seventh placed Mumbai (P7/W3/L3/NR1) was built on the back of 63-run opening stand between Gilchrist (35 off 20 balls) and Gibbs (58 off 44 balls) while Smith (35 off 22 balls) helped Deccan set Mumbai 169 to win.

The thing about Mumbai however is that they have the talent and the firepower to be higher up the table.

Everyone is fully aware how dangerous the likes of Sanath Jayasuria, captain Sachin Tendulkar and JP Duminy all are with the bat while Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan and dynamo Lasith Malinga can destroy a batting line-up in the blink of an eye.

Mumbai will be hoping that their earlier no-result thanks to a wash out on April 21 at Durban against the then faltering Rajasthan Royals doesn’t come back to haunt them.

Our tip is for Deccan’s form slump to continue with Mumbai to dismantle their top order.