May I Help U?

The Deccan Chargers' performance in the two editions of the IPL has ranged from the abysmal to the euphoric. From finishing last in the first edition to shocking everyone by winning the title last year, the Chargers have experienced a multitude of emotions. After leading the team for a large part of the first year, when VVS Laxman was ruled out with an injury, Adam Gilchrist was formally given the reins of the team for the entire tournament in the second year. He led the way for the team, and showed the world that he was still as much of a nightmare to opposition bowlers and could still pack a punch in his shots. Gilchrist played the innings of the tournament in the semi-final against Delhi, smashing a strong attack that included Dirk Nannes, Ashish Nehra and Amit Mishra to blow away the opposition.

After buying the new pace sensation Kemar Roach at the auction this year, Deccan have added a genuine quick bowler who can compensate for the loss of Fidel Edwards who has been ruled out with an injury. Roach will be quite a handful as he consistently bowls at over 150 kmph. Andrew Symonds, who is now quite happy to be a freelancer, being available for the whole tournament. Deccan have a well knit squad with and they are a force to reckon with this year too, a semi-final spot well within their reach.

Strengths: Their balance is their strong point. Amongst the bowlers, Ryan Harris hs been in fabulous form for Australia, picking up a bagful of wickets in ODIs for them. Although he will not be available for the initial matches, they have Kemar Roach, RP Singh and Chaminda Vaas to handle the new ball, and the talented Pragyan Ojha as the spinner. Then they have a host of utility players such as Symonds, Rohit Sharma, Venugopal Rao, Dwayne Smith and T Suman who can contribute in multi-faceted ways. If both Gibbs and Symonds are in the playing eleven, the fielding inside the ring will be the best in the business, with both of them being joined by Rohit Sharma. The batting too has a lot of firepower.

Weaknesses: The Deccan Chargers weakness is that the batting can come apart with some top order failures, and seems more flashy than substantial. This is what happened to them in the first edition of the IPL. There is undoubted talent in the lineup with the likes of Gibbs, Gilchrist, Laxman, Rohit et al, but there is too much reliance on Gilchrist to fire at the top of the order. Andrew Symonds has not batted much of late and that also is a concern. Venugopal Rao and Suman have punched above their weight in the first two editions and it remains to be seen whether they can keep up with those standards. Deccan also have an inherent ability to choke while chasing as they tend lose wickets in a cluster, and that is one area where they need to work on a bit more. It will be the batting that would win a side most of the games in the T20 format and it remains to be seen how Deccan's batting fares this year, for it could well hold the key as to where they finish at the end of IPL 3.

Players to watch out for:

Mitchell Marsh: The younger brother of Shaun and the son of former Aussie opener Geoff, Mitchell Marsh already has the distinction of leading Australia to the U-19 World Cup title in 2010 at the tender age of 18. He is next in line to make his debut for Australia from a distinguished family of cricketers. A hard-hitting middle-order batsman, Marsh could well prove to be the surprise packet if he is selected to play for the Chargers this season. He can also bowl some useful medium pace and is a fine fielder. Marsh has already proved his worth in the Aussie domestic circuit making some huge scores and has the ability to clear the ground despite his small frame.

Kemar Roach: Roach shot into prominence after pinging Ricky Ponting in the elbow forcing him to retire hurt mid-way into his innings. He troubled Ponting all season with his barrage of short pitched deliveries which were hurled consistently at over 150 kmph and managed to ruffle the Aussie skipper's confidence like no other bowler in recent times. Roach was one of the most sought-after players at the IPL 2010 auctions and was snapped up by the Chargers for a whopping 720,000 USD after a tug-of-war between them and the Chennai Super Kings. With a skiddy action and a deceptively small build to go with it, Roach is surprisingly quick and can bowl long spells as he did in Australia in the recent Test series. He has the huge task of replacing Fidel Edwards in the Deccan bowling line-up, and Roach looks more than capable of handling it.

Key Players' Timelines:

Players	Available from	No. of matches they will play
Kemar Roach	15th March	12 (will miss 2)
Dwayne Smith	15th March	12 (will miss 2)
Ryan Harris	14th March	12 (will miss 2)