Mumbai picked the wrong day for the worst batting performance of the tournament. Absolutely shocking really. Were never in that. Back to +22 for the tournament but I'm playing both matches tomorrow.
10pts Kolkata to beat Chennai Evs Totesport
Two of the three sides with a 100% record clash in the 1st match of the day which comes from Chennai. Mahendra Singh Dhoni's Chennai take on Saurav Ganguly's Kolkata side in what promises to be a high scoring encounter. Whoever wins this match will take top spot on their own as Delhi don't play on Saturday.
Mahendra Singh Dhoni may opt to go into this match with an unchanged side. That would mean Matthew Hayden, who hit a brilliant 81 last time out will open with Hussey coming in at 3. Both will be playing their last match for the Chennai franchise here. The captain would bat at 4 and there's still Suresh Reina and Jacob Oram to come in after them. With the ball, Chennai will be hoping Muttiah Muralitharan can take advantage of a day game to spin them to success.
Kolkata have a very explosive top 4. Saurav Ganguly will be partnered by Brendon McCullum at the top of the order with Ricky Ponting (another who plays his last match here) coming in at 3 and David Hussey at 4. Mohammad Hafeez could bat 5 but he's not certain to play. The reason he's not certain to play is Kolkata could choose to bring Umar Gul into their bowling attack. He was the top wicket taker at the Twenty20 world cup last year so it would be folly to leave him out against such a good batting lineup. Also likely to be in the bowling attack is the explosive Ishant Sharma, Agit Agarkar and spinner Murali Kartik. That looks a top notch bowling attack and if the big 4 get big runs Kolkata will be really tough to beat.
Under lights on Wednesday Chennai just about defended 208 against Mumbai so this promises to be high scoring but Kolkata's special bowling attack could prove harder to get away and that could be the difference when all is said and done. It's that reason why I'm taking the away side here.
10pts Bangalore to beat Rajasthan Royals Evs Stan James
Both these sides won their last match. Bangalore won theirs much easier than Rajasthan won theirs but winning is all that counts. This match sees Rahul Dravid up against Shane Warne in the captaincy stakes while South African duo Mark Boucher and Jacques Kallis go up against their international captain Graeme Smith.
Bangalore were pretty impressive in their last match after kopping a right beating against Kolkata in their opener. They'll go in with Chanderpaul and Dravid opening again with Jacques Kallis in at 3. Massive hitting Misbah-ul-Haq is now available and he's likely to come into the side at 4 in place of Ross Taylor with Mark Boucher floating up the order. Zaheer Khan and Praveen Kumar will open the bowling with Jacques Kallis backing them up. Sunil Joshi is likely to offer the spin.
Rajasthan are likely to open up with Graeme Smith and Yusuf Pathan with Kamran Akmal rested so either Younis Khan or Sohail Tanvir get a game. Shane Watson will bat 3 with Mohammad Kaif at 4. Warne aside the bowling looks a bit weak which is why Tanvir is likely to get the nod in this one. Shane Watson can be ok but he's usually a gimme for 10 an over in all truth. Warne is no stranger to changing things though so Yusuf Pathan could bowl his spin early in the piece if needed.
I'll never write a Shane Warne side off lightly. Having seen him 1st hand captain Hampshire for the past few seasons I know only too well how he can turn a game but Bangalore look like they have too many options for Warne's side here. Rajasthan were extremely lucky to beat Deccan on Thursday and Bangalore just look the more reliable side and with home advantage I'll go with them.