Delhi Daredevils Team:

Irfan Khan Pathan,James Redfern Hopes,Morne Morke,Virender Sehwag,Yalaka Venugopal Rao,Ashok Bhimchandra Dinda,Andrew Barry McDonald,Naman Vinaykumar Ojha,David Andrew Warner,Umesh Yadav,Aaron James Finch,Roelof Erasmus van der Merwe,Matthew Scott Wade,Travis Rodney Birt,Robert Frylinck,Colin Alexander Ingram,Ajit Bhalchandra Agarkar,Rajesh Vithal Pawar,Aavishkar Madhav Salvi,Sridharan Sriram,Tejashwi Prasad Yadav,Yogesh Nagar,Vikas Mishra,Ajit Chandila,Robin Bist,Varun Raymond Aaron,Unmukt Chand,Vivek Yadav,Shahbaz Nadeem,Prashant Tukuram Naik

Pune Warriors Team:

Murali Kartik,Robin Venu Uthappa,Graeme Craig Smith,Yuvraj Singh,Angelo Davis Mathews,Wayne Dillon Parnell,Nathan Leslie McCullum,Callum James Ferguson,Ashish Nehra,Timothy David Paine,Mitchell Ross Marsh,Alfonso Clive Thomas,Jerome Everton Taylor,Jesse Daniel Ryder,Dheeraj Subash Jadhav,Abhishek Arunkumar Jhunjhunwala,Harshad Hemantkumar Khadiwale,Kamran Khan,Ganesh Babanrao Gaikwad,Monish Dinesh Mishra,Bhuvneshwar Kumar,Imtiyaz Ahmed,Manish Krishnanand Pandey,Sachin Rana,Rahul Sharma,Mithun Manhas,Shrikant Bhaskar Wagh,Harpreet Singh Bhatia

Holding a wafer-thin chance of making the playoffs, they are up against a team placed in the lower half of the points table and depleted by the departure of their skipper Kumar Sangakkara.

But things will not be that easy for them, as they will be up against a team possessing a potent new ball attack in Dale Steyn and Ishant Sharma on a pitch that affords swing and bounce.

The spin to the tale will be provided by Amit Mishra and Pragyan Ojha. Undoubtedly, it will be a battle royal between KXIP batsmen and DC bowlers at the picturesque HPCA stadium on Saturday afternoon.

It is to the credit of KXIP that their late resurgence in the tournament has kept the interest, as far as qualification is concerned, alive.

They have kept both Kolkata Knight Riders and Mumbai Indians on the toes. Both teams know that if they slip here, they could still miss the playoff.

A KXIP win on Saturday would mean that the qualifying battle would go down to the wire, right to the final league match between KKR and MI in Kolkata on Sunday night.

KXIP have been on a roll, winning their last four games, which include two top teams, Mumbai Indians and Royal Challengers Bangalore, and now run into a team who have held a lot of promise but delivered little.

Stand-in Deccan Chargers skipper Cameron White said that it was frustrating to be at the receiving end in the majority of games.

“We have played some very good cricket. If you see the margin of the eight games we have lost, you will feel we should actually have won some of them. We have lost by barely ten runs. A couple of poor overs, a couple of missed catches or a couple of big strikes have cost us dear. You could say we have lost the big moments. However, going into the last match we would like to sign off on a high. Having won our last two matches, our franchise wouldn’t mind if we spoil KXIP’s party.”

KEY CLASHES

STEYN VS MARSH

Shaun Marsh has hit top form for KXIP and is among the leading scorers in the tournament. He will be up against a bowler who thrives in helpful conditions. The pitch in Dharamsala affords pace and bounce and Dale Steyn would relish the encouragement. Thus, it will be a keen battle between a batsman in top gear and a bowler at full steam.

MISHRA VS CHAWLA

It’s been a battle between the two leggies for a spot in the Indian team. When one gets a berth, the other is stranded. With DC’s Amit Mishra having gained a berth in the Indian team for the tour of Caribbean, KXIP’s Piyush Chawla will have a point or two to prove.

ISHANT VS GILLY

The lanky Ishant Sharma with his high-arm action on a bouncy pitch is bound to come out strong at Adam Gilchrist, who has finally struck form. It will be Ishant’s brief to take Gilly out of action before he can get dangerous.

Teams (from):

Kings XI Punjab: Adam Gilchrist (capt), Dinesh Karthik, Abhishek Nayar, Praveen Kumar, Piyush Chawla, Bhargav Bhatt, Bipul Sharma, Love Ablish, Mandeep Singh, Nitin Saini, Paras Dogra, Paul Valthaty, Shalabh Srivastava, Siddharth Chitnis, Sunny Singh, Vikramjeet Malik, Amit Yadav, Shaun Marsh, David Hussey, Nathan Rimmongton, Ryan Harris, Ryan McLaren, David Miller.

Deccan Chargers: Cameron White (capt), Shikhar Dhawan, Bharat Chipli, Jean-Paul Duminy, Dan Christian, D Ravi Teja, Harmeet Singh, Dale Steyn, Ishant Sharma, Pragyan Ojha, Amit Mishra, Sunny Sohal, Rusty Theron, Manpreet Ghony, Ishant Jaggi, Michael Lumb, Ankit Sharma, Anand Rajan, Akash Bhandari, Chris Lynn, Ishan Malhotra, Jaydev Shah, Arjun Yadav, Ashish Reddy.

The 36-year-old actress who is married to NRI businessman Raj Kundhra, has rubbished reports claiming that the couple have already prepared a nursery for their “bundle of joy”.

“Sick and tired of all the congratulatory msgs and calls, so for the last time ‘I am not pregnant’. All this is so annoying (sic),” the actress wrote on the micro-blogging website.

Shilpa who is the co-owner of the IPL team, Rajasthan Royals, along with her husband of two years, added, “To all my followers ‘If how and when I want to make any personal announcement, is entirely my (not the press) prerogative! As of now there’s none to make (sic).”

The actress also requested the press to respect her privacy. “I do know I am in the public domain, and everyones curious, but these are sensitive issues, hence wud appreciate the press respects my privacy (sic),” she tweeted.

Mumbai Indians:

Andrew Symonds,Harbhajan Singh,Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar,Separamadu Lasith Malinga,James Edward Charles Franklin,Kieron Adrian Pollard,Aiden Craig Blizzard,Moises Constantino Henriques,Clinton James McKay,David Johan Jacobs,Munaf Musa Patel,Rohit Gurunath Sharma,Kulasekara Mudiyanselage Dinesh Nuwan Kulasekara,Congenige Randhi Dilhara Fernando,Dhawal Sunil Kulkarni,Rajagopal Sathish,Ali Ghulam Murtaza,Ambati Thirupathi Rayudu,Abu Nechim Ahmed,Tirumalasetti Laxminarayana Suman,Aditya Prakash Tare,Rahul Sharma,Suryakumar Ashok Yadav,Yuzvendra Singh Chaha,Pawan Shakland Suyal,Sarul Kanwar,Balram Santosh Kumar Yadav

Rajasthan Royals:

Shane Robert Watson,Rahul Sharad Dravid,Paul David Collingwood,Johan Botha,Shane Keith Warne,Shaun William Tait,Pankaj Singh,Dishant Harendra Yagnik,Deepak Lokandersingh Chahar,Ashok Lakshminarayan Menaria,Aakash Chopra,Ajinkya Madhukar Rahane,Abhishek Santosh Raut,Siddharth Kishorkumar Trivedi,Aditya Pradip Dole,Luteru Ross Poutoa Lote Taylor,Stuart Terence Roger Binny,Swapnil Ashok Asnodkar,Faiz Yakub Fazal,Ankeet Anil Chavan,Pinal Rohitbhai Shah,Dinesh Salunkhe,Samad Mohammed Fallah,Amit Gajanan Paunikar,Nayan Dilip Doshi,Sumit Narwal,Amit Singh

Pune is already out of the tournament and they will be playing for pride. More importantly, it will be Sourav Ganguly who will be playing for Pune against his old team, Kolkata, and would love to get a big one against them to prove a point.

This will mean that the Pune Warriors India will have a lot at stake from an individual’s point of view.

Kolkata have other reasons to want to win this one. Till about a week back they had looked like easy qualifiers to get to the next round but having lost two of their last three games, it has affected them greatly.

Chennai Super Kings:

Michael Edward Killeen Hussey,Joginder Sharma, Mahendra Singh Dhoni,Suresh Kumar Raina,Subramaniam Badrinath,Kulasekara Mudiyanselage Dinesh Nuwan Kulasekara,Johannes Albertus Morkel,Wriddhiman Prasanta Saha,Douglas Erwin Bollinger,George John Bailey,Scott Bernard Styris,Benjamin William Hilfenhaus,Dwayne John Bravo,Murali Vijay,Ravichandran Ashwin,Sudeep Tyagi,Francois du Plessis,Hewa Kaluhalamullage Suraj Randiv Kaluhalamulla,Ganapathi Vignesh,Vijaykumar Yo Mahesh,Srikkanth Anirudha,Abhinav Mukund,Shadab Bashir Jakati,Kuthethurshri Vasudevadas,Timothy Grant Southee

Kochi Tuskers Kerala:

Bradley John Hodge,Ramesh Rajaram Powar,Rudra Pratap Singh,Shanthakumaran Sreesanth,Vangipurappu Venkata Sai Laxman,Brendon Barrie McCullum,Muttiah Muralitharan, Denagamage Proboth Mahela de Silva Jayawardene, Parthiv Ajay Patel,Owais Alam Shah,Ravindrasinh Anirudhsinh Jadeja,Ranganath Vinay Kumar,John Wayne Hastings,Narangoda Liyanaarachchilage Thissara Chirantha Perera,Deepak Ashok Chougule,Michael Klinger,Prasanth Padmanabhan,Tanmay Manoj Srivastava,Yashpal Singh,Balachandra Akhil,Sushant Hemant Marathe,Chandan Madan,Yaleeka Gnaneswara Rao,Kedar Mahadav Jadhav,Raiphi Vincent Gomez

Since, the Pune Warriors and the Deccan Chargers were in Mumbai, the actor decided to show them a good time after their well fought match.

And since, cricket and Bollywood are inseparable since times immemorial, and more so during the IPL, Khan decided to spice up the party by inviting his friends from the film fraternity as well – including Arjun Rampal, Priyanka Chopra, Shahid Kapoor, Suzanne and Hrithik Roshan. Apparently, even Dada aka Sourav Ganguly made it to the guest list.

Now, we all know why inviting Dada automatically makes this party interesting. Sourav Ganguly, who led Khan’s KKR for three years, was rudely left out during this IPL’s auctions.

The former captain of the Indian cricket team would have missed IPL altogether had Pune not picked him up.

Last night, while the usual faces at a SRK party Arjun Rampal, Priyanka Chopra, Shahid Kapoor, Suzanne and Hrithik Roshan were invited, the cricketers from KKR Gautam Gambhir, Jacques Kallis, Brett Lee, Yousuf Pathan and Mark Boucher also headed Mannat-wards.

After their match at DY Patil Stadium, players of the Deccan Chargers and Pune Warriors also joined the bash.

“SRK’s parties are much talked about. However, last night was something different, since Khan had invited the cricketers as well as Bollywood at his residence.

While he invited everyone from his team, he also extended a friendly hand to the cricketers from Pune Warriors and Deccan Chargers. Obviously, he couldn’t leave out Sourav.”

We don’t not know whether Dada actually made it to the party, putting the past behind. But we promise we’ll let you know the moment we find out.

Win in the first match for Bangalore produced a lot of hopes but two continuous losses has reminded us of their game in previous season. Dravid seems to be the only person consistent for the team. On the other hand, in absense of Brett Lee, Shaun Marsh, Taylor and other key players, Punjab seems to be underdogs.

Watch Punjab VS Bangalore live on your computer for free: Visit community.t20.com. Register or login and you can watch the match live for free. Remember to install Silverlight player.

Kolkata Knight Riders vs Mumbai Indians

Both the teams are coming after a loss and from the way the KKR lost it looked like it is back to good old poor playing and losing habits after its loss to Rajasthan Royals. Both the sides will be looking for a win from tomorrow’s match.

Royal Challengers Bangalore vs Kolkata Knight Riders

Having beaten KKR by nine wickets in a league encounter in Kolkata on April 22, RCB are betting again on their fiery opener Chris Gayle for a repeat performance to maintain their winning record on the home turf.

Though RCB signed up Gayle midway in place of an injured Dirk Nannes, the fiery West Indian has been instrumental in the home team’s winning spree, having scored 398 runs in six innings, with two centuries (102 and 107) against KKR and Kings XI Punjab at an average of 99.50.

With the other opener Tillakratne Dilshan leaving for Colombo to lead Sri Lanka squad to the England tour this summer, RCB are exploring the possibility of playing Mayank Agarwal or Saurabh Tiwary with Gayle in their 12th league match at the Chinnaswamy stadium in this tech hub.

“It is not just Gayle but there are other batsmen in the RCB side we have to deal with. But Gayle has done a terrific job for his team. Every team is working hard to get him out early and we will be doing the same,” admitted KKR coach Dave Whatmore at a pre-match presser on Friday.

The ‘Gayle storm’ made RCB notch up 15 points from 11 games and a third spot in the table. Another win over KKR will push them to the top with 17 points and ahead of Chennai Super Kings (CSK) with a better net run rate, which is currently +0.834.

With 14 point from 11 matches, KKR too require two points to cement their place in the play-offs though both the teams have two more games to make up in the event of a defeat on Saturday.

RCB’s dashing batsman Virat Kohli, who will lead again in place of their injured skipper Daniel Vettori, was upbeat on taming the Knight Riders with the solid backing of the home crowd.

“We are determined to keep the momentum as we have three more games to go before the play-offs. We need to keep focused on winning every game so that we peak at the right time to get into the top four and enter the final,” Kohli told reporters before going into practice session after sudden heavy afternoon showers drenched the ground.

The young Kohli, the only player RCB retained for the IPL 4 tournament, led the team to a nine-wicket victory over Rajasthan Royals in Jaipur on May 11.

“We have three combinations to try for the opening pair in absence of Dilshan. We have lost important players on earlier occasions during the last two years. But we have players in the team who are ready to take up the mantle,” he said.

Similarly, KKR skipper Gautam Gambhir, who has been appointed India captain for the upcoming West Indies tour early June, is keen to avenge the stunning defeat by RCB at Eden Gardens last month by tackling Gayle and other batters early.

“I have played under Gambhir before; he is very good captain and motivates all players. He always gives 100 per cent on the field. I observed this quality in him during the tour of New Zealand last year,” Kohli recalled.