Deccan Face up to Chennai's Batting Might

Chennai: The battle lines are drawn for the Chennai Super Kings vs Deccan Chargers game in the Indian Premier League T20 tournament here on Sunday night, but both teams decided to hold their cards close to their chest while giving nothing away.

While champions Deccan Chargers put on a brave face following their loss last night to Kolkata Knight Riders, the Chennai Super Kings admitted that they will be playing to their strength, which is batting. Such statements were to be expected given the fickleness of the format.

At the pre-match Media conference, Chennai Super Kings skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni declined to read too much in Chargers' defeat saying that other teams too could find themselves in similar situations as the tournament progresses.

"It does not really matter that they have lost the first match and also travelled. The schedule will demand that from all teams at some point. The players will still have to be at the top of their game and adapt well. Players will have to be mentally fit," he asserted.

Dhoni felt that the preparations of the Chennai Super Kings has been good and was looking forward to a strong performance this season.

Commenting on the Super Kings' perceived weak bowling attack, Dhoni admitted that it was a matter of concern. "In a sense, I agree. But I see fielding as an area where we will have to improve further while our batting strength will influence results in T20," he opined.

When asked about team composition, Dhoni disclosed that Hayden would open the batting either with Parthiv Patel or Murali Vijay.

In conclusion, Dhoni reiterated that the performance of domestic players would be a critical factor. "We have a decent bench. The players are coming through well. It's also a stage where they can learn so much from the international stars."

Chargers coach Darren Lehman, who stood in for skipper Adam Gilchrist, believed that he preferred to look ahead than at the past when asked how his team would regroup after the shock defeat to Kolkata Knight Riders in Mumbai yesterday.

Declined to be drawn into a lengthy discussion, Lehman said: "We cannot think about that. Have to look at our strengths than anything else and execute our plans well."

Admitting that the non-availability of some key players, especially the West Indians like fast bowlers Kemar Roach and Fidel Edwards, Lehman said it was up to the Indian players to chip in and make up the deficit.

The absence of a home base in Hyderabad due to security concerns has unsettled the Chargers who were looking forward to playing in front of their fans, but then, Lehman said, they cannot afford to dwell too much on this.

Looking at Super Kings, Lehman pointed out the obvious in saying that the hosts had a few star players in skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Matthew Hayden and Muttiah Muralitharan, who combine to make them a strong side.

Team news

Chennai Super Kings: Chennai will be without at least three overseas players for tomorrow's game - Michael Hussey, Makhaya Ntini and George Bailey.

Squad (from): MS Dhoni (capt & wk), Manpreet Gony, S Badrinath, Parthiv Patel (wk), Murali Vijay, Sudeep Tyagi, Ravichandran Ashwin, Shadab Jakati, Arun Karthik, Lakshmipathy Balaji, Suresh Raina, Thilan Thushara, Muttiah Muralitharan, Thissara Perera, Michael Hussey, Matthew Hayden, Makhaya Ntini, Albie Morkel, Jacob Oram, George Bailey, Hemang Badani, Justin Kemp, Chandrasekar Ganapathy

Deccan Chargers: Deccan, having arrived on the eve of the game, will take a call on their final XI only later.

Squad (from): Adam Gilchrist (capt & wk), Andrew Symonds, Ryan Harris, Azhar Bilakhia, Srikkanth Anirudha, Arjun Yadav, Ravi Teja, Harmeet Singh, VVS Laxman, Pragyan Ojha, Rahul Sharma, Rohit Sharma, RP Singh, Tirumalsetti Suman, Venugopal Rao, Chaminda Vaas, Dwayne Smith, Kemar Roach, Herschelle Gibbs, Scott Styris, Bodapati Sumanth, Ashish Reddy, Monish Mishra, Mitchell Marsh, Anirudh Singh, Jaskaran Singh

Stats and trivia

• Suresh Raina has a total of 855 IPL runs in 30 games.
• Chennai will look to improve their home record, having lost four and won three.
• Andrew Symonds needs another 44 for 1000 domestic Twenty20 runs.
• The teams finished even with a win each in 2008, both by seven wickets. In fact, Chennai were beaten quite easily the last time they met at the MA Chidambaram Stadium.
• In South Africa, Deccan won the first encounter by six wickets but in the return match, crashed to 100 and lost by 78 runs. The match was remembered for Shadab Jakati's four wickets and Dwayne Smith's blinding 49.

Match facts
Sunday, March 14, 2010 (day/night)
Start time 20:00 local (14:30 GMT)