Dew diligence, a must!

Teams in the initial phase of the 15th Indian Premier League are thus far adhering to a simple formula to win the toss and put the opponents in to batAll the first four results in the early part of this season have gone in favour of the teams chasing a target including in a day match No one has put it more succinctly than new skipper of the title holders Chennai Super Kings Ravindra JadejaldquoDew will be the vital part in this edition If you win the toss you will look to bowl firstrdquo he said after his team lost to former champions Kolkata Knight Riders in the lung opener at the Wankhede Stadium on March 26Mantra for successThe script as far as the decision to field first is concerned is expected to remain the same when Faf du Plessisled Royal Challengers Bangalore take on KKR captained by Shreyas Iyer at the D Y Patil Stadium today under lightsKKR skipper Shreyas Iyer PicPTIWhile RCB will come off a defeat to Punjab Kings at the same venue on Sunday last KKR will have their confidence on a slightly higher level after having won their opening game against defending champions CSK at the Wankhede StadiumSignificantly it was KKR which halted RCBrsquos progress in the playoff phase last season and their headtohead record is 1613 in favour of twotime champions KKRThe teams look evenly balanced on paper and whoever bats first will be aiming to take the dew factor out of the game by scoring big Both teams are aware that even the total of 205 put up by RCB against PBKS at this venue was comfortably overtaken by the latterBut the southern franchisersquos bowlers were also guilty of contributing to the defeat by conceding 22 wides off 11 misdirected deliveries ldquoWe literally bowled 11 wides leading to 22 extra runs some of which went for boundaries We bowled almost two extra overs That put us back in the gamerdquo said RCB head coach Sanjay Bangar after the lost opening gameA course correction on this count would have been advised to the bowlers one of who Mohammed Siraj had an off day as he was smashed for 59 runs and also contributed 14 wide runsShahbaz Ahmed bowled only one over and Bangar said he will be given more work as a bowler as the tournament progresses ldquoOn this wicket the wrist spinners got a little more turn as you must have seen Rahul Chahar of PBKS bowl and we had Wanindu Hazaranga bowling well for us As the tournament goes forward we will try to use him morerdquo said the former India all rounderDu Plessis as the new captain in place of Virat Kohli had led from the front and blitzed his way to 88 smoking seven sixes on the way after a measured start The former South Africa captain and Kohli are the teamrsquos main batsmen at presentRahane in form for KKRKKR at the other end won a lowscoring game against CSK They chased the target of 131 with a measure of comfort What must be pleasing for the teamrsquos thinktank was the attacking display put up by the seasoned Ajinkya Rahane who was not afraid to take the aerial route while making 44 in 34 balls to set the team on the wayRahane last yearrsquos success Venkatesh Iyer and captain Iyer appear to be the batsmen to watch out for by their opponents other than Andre Russell lower downThey also have the unorthodox Sunil Narine and Varun Chakravarthy to apply the brakes in the middle overs apart from Russell to bowl in the end