With Mumbai certain to play in the semi finals, and Punjab out of the reckoning, the other 6 teams in the IPL are still all in contention for 3 of the other semi final spots. This is undoubtedly the closest ever IPL tournament and fans in India and across the world have been treated to some exceptional cricket.

The nature of the T20 format never really makes any particular side a favorite, and as we approach crunch time, the cricket is only going to get more exciting and tense.

We had a great win against Kolkata at home, which has given us some much needed momentum for our final 3 games, and every player in our squad is keen to seal our position in the semis, without worrying about other teams. I am keeping a close eye on our rivals; however, as long as RCB win 2 out of 3 games, we will find ourselves in the semi finals.

The Deccan Chargers have had a strong revival in this competition, and have come back from the brink of elimination, to stay afloat in the tournament. Their match against us tonight, is as good as a straight knock out game for them, and they will undoubtedly play out of their skins for a victory.

The Chargers are the defending champions after all, and a loss for them today will be a huge disappointment for their franchise. The Royal Challengers on the other hand have blown both hot and cold this season, but as long as we end up with the desired results, I will certainly not have too many complaints.

It’s amazing how a year seems like a lifetime in professional cricket, and no one has realized this fact more than Robin Uthappa. IPL 2009 was probably the worst tournament in his young career, but this year he is one of the top batsman in the IPL. Robin played an absolute blinder against Kolkata the other night, and if today happens to be his day, the Deccan Chargers may lose out on a chance to hold some silverware.

R Vinay Kumar deserves a specific mention as well, as he has come of age as a medium pacer, and the Indian selectors may well have made an inspired selection for the upcoming T20 World Cup.

Every member of the Royal Challengers are geared up for a big effort tonight, as a win will eliminate the Chargers from the semi final race, and give us one foot in the door for a home semi final.

Ray Jennings is the former coach of the South African national team, and current head coach of Royal Challengers Bangalore. He was talking to Dhruv Mullick.

IPL 2010 is as close as it possibly can be, with the faith of 5 teams all in the balance, as only Mumbai are certain of a position in the semi finals at this stage. It’s important to focus on your own performance, rather than dwell too much on other results, and the task is pretty clear tonight, as we must beat the Chargers and end their semi final hopes.

A win against the defending champions will not only put them out of the race for a position in the last four, but will also make our team’s position a lot safer, as a win will move us on to 12 points, providing a bit of breathing space from the rest of the pack.

Putting together a winning combination is never an easy task, particularly when you have only 4 foreign players in the line up, and a number of talented Indian players to pick from. Everything looks good when you win, but a couple of defeats make everyone examine options carefully. The RCB management team have discussed the best possible winning combination for tonight’s match, and can guarantee our supporters that we will have the best eleven out there, to beat the Deccan Chargers.

Rather than dwell too much on individual players, I’m looking for a collective effort, as we need every player to be on their toes to ensure that we pull through this challenging phase of the competition. One must remember that we have a 12th man on our side tonight, in the form of a vociferous KSCA crowd. I’ve been told that we have a sell out 40000 capacity crowd coming in, and going by the partisan support that we have received in previous home games, tonight will be no different.

This will undoubtedly lift the players, and let’s hope that we have the desired result at the end of an exciting home t20 clash.

Ray Jennings is the former coach of the South African national team and current head coach of Royal Challengers Bangalore. He was talking to Dhruv Mullick

After a promising opening round of the IPL, RCB have not had the best of weeks with 2 defeats out of 3 back to back away games. In any tournament, particularly in twenty 20, momentum holds the key, and it’s extremely difficult to get out of a losing run, as Punjab have realized this season.

With 4 wins in our first 6 games, we had a great deal of winning momentum, and are all thoroughly disappointed with 2 defeats this week. Any team can win or lose a game in twenty20, but our efforts against Chennai and Delhi were just not good enough to compete on level terms, let alone win.

Murali Vijay played an absolute gem against us down in Chennai, but the RCB bowling unit kept missing their line and played into his hands. Vijay is a technically correct batsman, and we bowled a majority of deliveries on his pads, which he kept accepting gleefully by depositing them into the stands over deep mid wicket and deep-square.

Things took a turn for the better in Mohali, and Kevin Pietersen finally showed everyone what a genuine match winner he is, with his flawless knock. Chasing a target of 180 plus on a big outfield like Mohali is not easy, and Kevin played every delivery on merit, and only went for the high risk shots towards the end of the run chase. People may repeatedly go on about Kevin’s price tag, but if he can put in a few more performances like Mohali, it will be well worth the investment.

Our third game on this away leg against Delhi did not go to plan, and it’s fair to say that we were never in the game at all. Warner, Sehwag and Collingwood sent all the bowlers on a leather hunt, and our run chase gathered no impetus. The RCB batsmen never looked like threatening the Delhi target at any stage of the game, as we didn’t execute our plans effectively.

The criticism on our team selection against Delhi is justified, as only the most passionate supporters react to defeats, and I completely take that in my stride. Dropping Manish was a tough decision, but one must remember that we had enough power hitters in the eleven, and having a stable batsman like Dravid is crucial, particularly if we had lost 2 early wickets, and needed a calming influence like Dravid out in the middle.

The task to reach the semi finals is now clear and simple, and the players are aware that we cannot afford any more slip ups. With 5 wins and 4 defeats, things are getting pretty tight, but we have the personnel to deliver the goods, particularly when pushed into a corner.

Ray Jennings is the former coach of the South African national team and current head coach of Royal Challengers Bangalore. He was talking to Dhruv Mullick.

The entire squad and support staff of the Royal Challengers are enjoying a much needed break before our next away game in Chennai, as the few rest days have given players a chance to recharge their batteries, and put their feet up.

This year’s tournament is progressing well, and every player in the team is taking adequate responsibility in tough situations. We didn’t start off on a good note, with a sub standard performance and eventual defeat against Kolkata, but the side came back strongly to win the next four games on the trot, by demolishing every opponent.

I have many words of praise for Robin Uthappa’s splendid return to form, and it won’t be long before he dons the Indian colors again if he keeps batting like this. His quick fire half century in our first home game against Punjab silenced most of his critics, and his breathtaking 60 odd against Chennai turned the game on its head, as he landed a few lusty blows into the Chennai bowling attack’s solar plexus. Robin is an explosive hitter, and undoubtedly one of our key players for the remaining matches in the league stage.

The bowling unit is probably at their best, compared to the last two IPL seasons, with Praveen Kumar and R Vinay Kumar putting in some stand out performances. Praveen’s hatrick against Rajasthan is ample proof of his ability in twenty20 cricket, and when he gets it right, he is a hard man to get off the square. R Vinay Kumar on the other hand is one of the hardest working players in the team, always putting in the hard yards in training, and never running away from fitness sessions. Vinay has picked up wickets at regular intervals this year, and thoroughly deserves his call up to the Indian side for the twenty20 world cup.

Finally, one cannot ignore the massive influence that Jacques Kallis has on this team, with his remarkable consistency at the top of the order. Experience comes in handy, even in the shortest format of the game, and Kallis is currently showing the young boys how to bat in twenty20 cricket. He is the first name on the team sheet during meetings, and his efforts with bat and ball will make the Royal Challengers a difficult team to beat as we approach the business end of the tournament.

The loss against Delhi has reminded us that there is still plenty of work left to seal a semi final berth, but 4 wins out of 6 is something that I will happily take at this stage of the tournament.

Ray Jennings is the former coach of the South African national team and current head coach of Royal Challengers Bangalore. He was talking to Dhruv Mullick.

After the disappointments of our opening defeat in Calcutta, the Challengers showed everyone what the team is made of, by absolutely pulverizing the Kings from Punjab. In spite of an ordinary display with the ball, and some poor ground fielding, we didn’t lose hope and knew that we had it in us to chase down a massive target of 204.

Once again Jacques Kallis came to the party with a crucial knock as an opener, where he judged the game to perfection. Kallis has got the ideal measure of twenty20 batting, by first playing himself in, and then cutting loose when required.

I was thoroughly impressed with Robin Uthappa’s quick fire half century, which was just the impetus our run chase needed. It’s fair to say that Uthappa has well and truly buried the ghost of IPL 2009 with his knock against Punjab, and those who continue to doubt his ability and value to our team have been left to eat humble pie.

The small outfields and placid wickets in India make a chase of 200 plus a realistic target, but that doesn’t take anything away from our batting unit’s collective effort against the Punjab bowlers. Manish, Robin, Kallis and Virat all played their role to perfection, and gave the opposition bowlers no chance to string a couple of quiet overs together.

This victory will give every player in the RCB squad a great deal of zest and confidence for the rest of the competition, and the squad will look to put in another special performance in front of a packed KSCA against the Rajasthan Royals.

Ray Jennings is the former coach of the South African national team and current head coach of Royal Challengers Bangalore. He was talking to Dhruv Mullick