Dhoni and Kevin Pietersen the two maverick leaders of Team Chennai and Royal Challengers will clash in the fifth match of the Indian Premier League at Port Elizabeth on Monday.

Having lost the tournament-opener to Mumbai Indians by 19 runs, Chennai, last year’s runners up, will be hoping to get on the points table on Monday.

They will be up against a buoyed up Royal Challengers outfit after their crushing 75-run win over defending champions Team Jaipur in Cape Town on Saturday.

Both teams will need to keep the conditions of Port Elizabeth in mind when they decide on the combination. Port Elizabeth has always been a slowish wicket which tends to keep a bit low.

The spinners, who very much called the shots on Day 1 of the tourney, could be in business again at St George’s Park. May be, it’s a chance for Dhoni to drop one of his seamers, probably Thilan Thushara and get in the Lankan legend Muttiah Muralitharan.

In hindsight, Dhoni will rue the absence of the explosive Albie Morkel in the first match who could not play as his kit was misplaced by the airline in Johannesburg.

His sharp seam bowling and lusty hitting could just have meant the difference between victory and defeat. The Royal Challengers though will be keen on maintaining the momentum they gained from their massive win over the Rajasthan.

KP will be keen to repeat the stroke, which caused so much debate in cricketing circles, in the shortest form of the game. The Team Chennai vs Royal Challengers clash will also witness a battle within a battle as Pietersen will face off against Andrew Flintoff, his fellow Englishman and fellow $1.55m-man in IPL 2.

Tags: Albie Morkel, Andrew Flintoff, Bangalore Royal Challengers, Chennai Super kings, Dhoni, IPL 2, IPL 2009 News, IPL South Africa, Ipl T20, Johannesburg, Kevin, Kevin Pietersen, KP, M.S.Dhoni, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Michael Hussey, Morkel, MS, Muralidharan, Muttiah Muralitharan, Pietersen, Port Elizabeth, Rajasthan Royals, Royal Challengers Vs Chennai Super Kings, Thilan Thushara

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Bangalore Royal Challengers coach Ray Jennings has said that he is confident that England batsman Kevin Pietersen will show his class as the skipper of the side during the second edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL), and  ‘doesn’t care a damn’ about the star batsman’s controversial reign as England captain.

He said: “I don’t care a damn what happened with the England job. Kevin and I are on the same wavelength. That’s all that matters and I just don’t believe he will behave like people think he can. The important thing is Kev is the type who likes to prove people wrong — he’s like me. He likes to push fingers up people’s noses.”

Tags: Bangalore Royal Challengers, Captain, England, IPL 2, IPL 2010 - IPL 3, Kevin Pietersen, Pietersen, Ray Jennings, Royal Challengers

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