When the Kings meet Royals!

MOHALI: Finally the Caravan of the T20 cricket is advancing towards the semis! What do you expect today on the crease? Well, a stadium packed to its capacity, cheering crowds, bursts of excitement and adrenaline rushes - all will be present in this real battle of bat and ball.

The two top teams – Rajasthan and Punjab will meet today in a spine-chilling match. Both the captains have been capable of maintaining the momentum of their teams. Today too both the sides will need their bowlers to bowl in the right areas. On the other hand the batsmen will be expected to build on good starts when the exciting match starts at Mohali today.

In the past 40 days, players from only these two teams have indeed lived up to the expectations. Both the teams are equally competent and tough. The teams continued to perform well even after securing their berths in the semi finals.

Therefore, when these two performing teams face-off at the PCA Stadium in their final league engagement today, top performances are expected from both the teams.

Interestingly, the two men – Yuvraj and Warne, whose ability to captain were not proven, have led their respective teams to these comfortable positions in the league.

On one side is the able experienced Warne who has succeeded in bringing out the best out of some of the players of his team, on the other hand is energetic Yuvraj leading his team with the active help from Coach Tom Moody and Sri Lankan captain Mahela Jayawardene.

The unique experiments in the bowling-order conducted by Warne and excellent batting by Pathan, Smith and Asnodkar have so far proved beneficial for the team. Moreover the unknown faces of this team have stood tall every time the big guns of this team failed.

On the other hand, Yuvraj has got some of the top players of world in his team like Jayawardene, Marsh, Sangakkara and Hopes.
These two top teams started their campaigns in league with initial defeats. Then the teams met face-to-face at Jaipur where Shane Watson scripted the first win for the Rajasthan team. Since then, the things have been on the upswing for both sides.

In last league match today, Punjab will surely try to avenge the loss before its home crowd. On the other side Rajasthan will also try to enter the knock-out stage with a win. Far from any prediction, this match will be full of entertainment and full “PAISA VASOOL” for all the spectators!

The teams (from):
Punjab: Yuvraj Singh (Capt.), Shaun Marsh, James Hopes, Kumar Sangakkara, Luke Pomersbach, Karan Goel, Mahela Jayawardene, Irfan Pathan, Piyush Chawla, S. Sreesanth, V.R.V. Singh, Uday Kaul, Ramesh Powar, Gagandeep Singh and Tanmay Srivastava.

Rajasthan: Shane Warne (Capt.), Graeme Smith, Swapnil Asnodkar, Mohammad Kaif, Yusuf Pathan, Shane Watson, Rajendra Jadeja, Neeraj Patel, Siddharth Trivedi, Mahesh Rawat, Sohail Tanvir, Munaf Patel,Younis Khan, Kamran Akmal, Pankaj Singh, Taruwar Kohli and Dinesh Salunkhe.