After three consecutive defeats under his charge, Dinesh Karthik, the stand-in Delhi Daredevils captain, must hope Gautam Gambhir returns soon and relieves him of the responsibility. Gambhir pulled a hamstring during the Daredevils' third game against the Mumbai Indians and has returned home after undergoing treatment in Sri Lanka, along with his pace bowler Ashish Nehra, who suffered a rib injury.
Both have recovered well after treatment in Sri Lanka, but they are still doubtful for today's visit to the table-topping Royal Challengers Bangalore. Karthik is not thrilled about the prospect of going out for another toss. "I am beginning to feel the pinch a bit, and I wish Gambhir was fit and back. We are missing Gautam big time, he is a big loss, all the runs he scores at the top of the order," he said. "After Gambhir was injured we have lost three in three under me. I have been left to face all these. Twenty20 is a difficult format and we have not been doing well at the moment.
"I am not at all impressed with the way we played. We have a couple of areas to work on. We tend to lose far too many wickets in the middle, which affects our run rate and the total we would finally get." The Royal Challengers have no such worries, with Jacques Kallis a rock at the top and Robin Uthappa in bludgeoning form. The two, together with their variety in the bowling department, have put Bangalore at the top with four comprehensive wins on the trot.
Anil Kumble, however, is not looking at the table yet: the Challengers' captain just wants to keep the momentum going. "I don't like to look at the points table, but it's nice to be at the top," he said. "I would like to take one game at a time and not look at where we stand. Even when we were No 8 last year halfway through the tournament, I didn't look at the table. "For me, being at the bottom of the table or top of the table doesn't matter. What's important is that we need to win a cricket match, and that will be the focus. If we keep winning every match we play then, automatically the results and points table will look up."
Suresh Raina, the Chennai Super Kings captain, has a similar wish to Karthik after being pushed into hotseat following MS Dhoni's injury. To Raina's relief, though, the India captain will be travelling with the team to Mumbai for tonight's clash with Sachin Tendulkar's Indians. Raina has lost his last two games at the helm after winning the first. "Dhoni is coming to Mumbai, so let's see how it goes and how he's feeling. It would be great to have him back. If you look at the last two games, we have not done well in batting, so we need to correct that," he said. "In Twenty20 cricket, you can't say much. It gives you a lot of confidence when you do well, but you have to back yourself when you don't do well also. We have to put in a good practice session now, and hopefully we'll do well in the next game." @Email:arizvi@thenational.ae
Sachin Tendulkar has ruled out playing for India in the World Twenty20. India batting legend Sunil Gavaskar had appealed for Tendulkar, who has been in tremendous form for the Mumbai Indians in the ongoing Indian Premier League, to be available for the event in the Caribbean, which starts next month. "I will not be playing the ICC World T20. I have not played T20 internationals from 2007 onwards and I do not think it should become an issue now," Tendulkar said. Royal Challengers Bangalore v Delhi Daredevils, 2.30pm, Mumbai Indians v Chennai Super Kings, 6.30pm, both on CricOne