Fleming: Getting Gayle early will be key

We are down to the business end of the 2011 Indian Premier League as the Bangalore Royal Challengers and Chennai Super Kings go head-to-head in Qualifier 1 at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Tuesday.

On offer is a place in the IPL4 final at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai, but it's not quite a winner-takes-all scenario as the losers still have a chance to make it to Saturday's big game.

Whoever wins Qualifier 1 will seal their spot in the final, but the losers will get a second bite of the cherry as they'll play against the winners of the Eliminator between Mumbai Indians and Kolkata Knight Riders in Qualifier 2 on Friday.

The Royal Challengers head into the match full of confidence as their convincing eight-wicket win over the Super Kings on Sunday will still be fresh in the minds of both sets of players. Not only did the victory help Bangalore finish top of the IPL table with 19 points - one ahead of Chennai - but it also gave them the psychological edge.

If Sunday's game taught us anything, it's that you need to get the wicket of Chris Gayle as early as possible to stand any chance of victory. The Windies opener has been a major success since arriving midway through the tournament and his whirlwind 75 from 50 balls helped the Challengers to easily chase down 129 in 18 overs.

"He is very much a key player and a lot of their wins feed off him," Chennai coach Stephen Fleming told the Press Trust of India ahead of the match.

"I guess the challenge now in the semi-finals and the final, whoever plays them, is to get Chris Gayle out early. If you get Chris Gayle out and you've got a few, you have a chance, getting him out will be priority number one."

Getting Gayle out early would not only stop Bangalore from scoring at a rapid rate, but the Super Kings will be able to put some pressure on the rest of the batsmen who have not spent too much time in the middle in the wake of the left-hander's superb form. When you take Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers out of the equation, there appears to be a soft underbelly.

The Challengers will be quick to point out that it's not just been the Chris Gayle Show as their bowlers have also won them countless games this season. Zaheer Khan has returned to form after a little blip in the early stages of the tournament, Sreesanth Aravind has produced several match-winning spells and their captain Daniel Vettori returned with two for 15 on Sunday after missing several games through injury.

The Super Kings though are no mugs with both bat and ball. Unlike with Bangalore, it's not just a case of picking up one or two wickets and exposing an out-of-form middle order. They have an excellent batting line-up and Mike Hussey, Murali Vijay, Suresh Raina, Subramaniam Badrinath and Mahendra Singh Dhoni have all been solid throughout the season.

Sunday's match was a case in point as the top four all fell for single figures before Dhoni dug in and helped them to a credible score. The likes of Dwayne Bravo and Albie Morkel are coming in at seven and eight these days, which gives them the longest batting line-up in the competition.

It should make for an interesting contest if both teams' star batsmen come off.


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