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James Taylor, the Nottinghamshire batsman, will captain England Lions on their tour of Bangladesh in January and Tymal Mills, the Essex pace bowler, has earned his first Lions call up.The 16-man squad includes a number of players, including Taylor, who have already played for the full England side. Jonny Bairstow, Scott Brothwick, Stuart Meaker, Jos Buttler and Alex Hales were all part of the one-day series against India during October.Mills, 19, is a left-arm quick who has been fast-tracked into the Lions set up after just four first-class matches for Essex but has already caught the attention of the selectors with his natural pace.

England Lions squad

• James Taylor (capt), Jonathan Bairstow, Scott Borthwick, Danny Briggs, Jack Brooks, Nathan Buck, Jos Buttler, Alex Hales, Simon Kerrigan, Tom Maynard, Stuart Meaker, Tymal Mills, Boyd Rankin, Joe Root, Jason Roy, James Vince

The tour, which includes five one-day games and two Twenty20s against Bangladesh A, is geared towards equipping England’s young players with the skills to succeed on the subcontinent; both in terms of playing and bowling spin. Alongside Borthwick, the Durham legspinner, Simon Kerrigan from Lancashire and Hampshire’s Danny Briggs are included. Last season Kerrigan took 9 for 51 against Hampshire in the County Championship.Jason Roy and Tom Maynard, the Surrey pair, are among the batsman making the trip as is Yorkshire’s Joe Root. All the players selected are currently involved in the performance programme squad, with the batsmen and spinners at a training camp in India while the quick bowlers are in South Africa. Boyd Rankin, the Ireland and Warwickshire fast bowler, will join the Lions tour after playing for the ICC Associates and Affiliates team against England in Dubai.David Parsons, the performance director, said: “We have selected a young squad for this tour which is in line with our strategy of looking ahead to the 2015 World Cup and identifying and working with players who may be able to go on and play a role for England in the future.”These players have worked extremely hard over the last couple of months with a strong focus on limited-overs cricket,” he added. “This tour presents a good opportunity for these players to continue to develop their skills in subcontinent conditions on what will no doubt be a challenging tour of Bangladesh as well as push for selection for future England squads.”

Salman Butt and Mohammad Amir will have appeals against their spot-fixing sentences heard on November 23 in London.Butt was given a two-and-a-half year jail term after being found guilty of conspiracy to cheat and conspiracy to accept corrupt payments based on orchestrating no-balls against England, at Lord’s, in 2010.Amir was given two six-month sentences under the same charges, to run concurrently, and is currently in detention at a young offenders’ institute.The Court of Appeal will hear their cases on Wednesday and it will be presided over by the Lord Chief Justice.Mohammad Asif and agent Mazhar Majeed were jailed for a year and 32 months respectively. The three cricketers and Majeed were caught after a sting operation which produced evidence of Majeed setting up the deliberate no-balls that were delivered during England’s first innings at Lord’s. Majeed claimed to have paid Asif £65,000, Butt £10,000 and Amir £2,500.

Rawalpindi Rams confirmed their place in the semi-finals with their third straight win, a seven-run victory over Faisalabad Wolves. Rawalpindi were in trouble early on after choosing to bat as their top order capsized, leaving the team at 46 for 4. Umar Amin, the 21-year-old batsman who played for Pakistan last year, spearheaded the revival with his third Twenty20 half-century. He struck seven fours in his 37-ball 53 and was involved in a 97-run stand with Jamal Anwar to help Rawalpindi post a score in excess of 150.Faisalabad’s top order performed even worse than Rawalpindi’s, losing a wicket in each of the first three overs, including ducks for both openers. Faisalabad then went three overs without losing a wicket, but the respite was brief as Rawalpindi struck twice more to leave the chase in disarray at 39 for 5. Misbah-ul-Haq and Imran Khalid made 40s but Faisalabad still looked well out of it when Misbah fell for 43 in the 16th over. There were still some anxious moments for Rawalpindi, though, as Mohammad Talha slammed three fours and a six to take Faisalabad to within eight runs of victory.Afghan Cheetas slipped to their third straight defeat of the tournament, losing by four wickets to Multan Tigers at the National Stadium in Karachi. Left-arm spinner Naved Yasin bagged four wickets, undermining a sound start by the Cheetas openers Najib Taraki and Fazal Niyazai who added 54. Yasin dismissed Taraki, and then struck twice in the same over to stifle the innings. Captain Mohammad Nabi made 34 in the middle order to lead a recovery from 82 for 5 but seamer Shabbir Ahmed picked up three wickets to keep the Cheetas to 131.Multan lost two early wickets but opener Zain Abbas began positively and reached a half-century in the company of the middle order. The Cheetas, however, struck at regular intervals and reduced Multan to 90 for 6 at one stage, including the wicket of Abbas, but Kamran Hussain and Shabbir – who starred in an all-round effort – steered their team home. The pair added an unbeaten 45; Kamran made 33 in 28 while Shabbir blasted two fours and a six in his 22 to help seal victory with four balls to spare. This was Multan’s first win of the competition.The Peshawar Panthers batsmen performed impressively to set up a victory against Karachi Dolphins at theNational Stadium. The result ensured Peshawar’s passage to the semi-finals, where they will meet Rawalpindi Rams.After choosing to bat, Peshawar were boosted by a second-wicket partnership of 70 in 6.2 overs between Rafatullah Mohmand and Mohammad Fayyaz, who made 42 off 33 balls and 39 off 21 balls. Zohaib Khan gave the innings a strong finish by scoring 43 off 23 balls as Peshawar ended on 177 for 7 in 20 overs. Left-arm spinner Faraz Ahmed was the best of Karachi’s bowlers, taking 2 for 27 in four overs.Karachi reached 31 for 0 during the fourth over of the chase but then slipped, losing two wickets for no addition to the score. They never recovered and lost wickets at regular intervals and were 79 for 7 at one stage. Their top-scorer was wicketkeeper Sarfraz Ahmed, who made 37 off 20 balls, while five other batsmen got into double figures but didn’t make it to 20. Karachi were restricted to 148 for 9 in 20 overs. Nauman Habib’s 3 for 27 were Peshawar’s best bowling figures.

ScorecardGloucestershire completed an emphatic 10-wicket win over rock-bottom Leicestershire to keep alive their hopes of promotion from Division Two of the County Championship. In overcast conditions, the Gloucestershire bowlers were always on top despite a fighting 63 from Ned Eckersley, as David Payne added a further three wickets to his first-innings six to finish with match figures of 9 for 96. He received good support from Ian Saxelby as Leicestershire lost their last five wickets for 34 runs.The home side then wasted little time in knocking off the 53 runs required for a timely victory, as the rain threatened to derail their progress. Gloucestershire remain in fourth place and play at second-placed Northamptonshire in their final match next week.Resuming on 255 for 4 after a delayed start, overnight batsmen Eckersley and Wayne White both added driven boundaries early on to take their fifth-wicket partnership to 51 before Eckersley lost his off stump to Saxelby attempting an extravagant drive against the new ball. That left Leicestershire on 277 for 5, only 18 runs in front, but White continued to keep the Gloucestershire bowlers at bay and found support from Rob Taylor as the bowlers looked for another breakthrough.The home side were further frustrated when bad light and drizzle forced the players off and an early lunch was taken but on the resumption, Saxelby and Payne struck as the Leicestershire innings subsided. The rot set in when White departed after making 31, run out by a direct hitfrom Will Gidman as the batsman attempted a second run.With Will Jefferson still feeling the effects of the hand injury that forced him to retire hurt on Friday, White’s dismissal was the crucial breakthrough for Gloucestershire, and the tail departed quickly as Payne snapped up two more wickets to take his match tally to nine.First he had Taylor edging to wicketkeeper Richard Coughtrie, and in his next over trapped Jigar Naik lbw not offering a shot. The left-arm seamer was denied the first 10-wicket haul of his career when Kane Williamson dropped Nathan Buck at second slip, but the Leicestershire innings soon came to an end as Matthew Hoggard, attempting to hook Saxelby, toe-endedthe ball to Jon Lewis at mid-on where the veteran, in his last home match for the county, took a low catch.Leicestershire were all out for 311, leaving Gloucestershire needing just 53 to win, and openers Chris Dent and Coughtrie hit seven boundaries as the home side reached 54 without loss in just nine overs to secure the victory that ensures that their hopes of promotion go to the wire.

Scorecard
Paul Horton hit 97 to guide Lancashire to a dramatic four-wicket victory over Gloucestershire in a high-scoring Clydesdale Bank 40 contest at Cheltenham. His excellent innings keeps alive his side’s outside chance of qualifying from Group C.Chasing 291 for victory, Lancashire were also indebted to Tom Smith and big-hitting Oliver Newby, who smashed 77 and 35 not out respectively. But it was Horton’s 90-ball innings that made the difference, the Australian-born batsman finishing unbeaten just three runs short of his hundred as Lancashire won with just 11 balls to spare.Alex Gidman, Chris Taylor and Ian Cockbain earlier contributed quick-fire half centuries as Gloucestershire won the toss and posted an imposing 290 for 4 on a typically flat Cheltenham pitch. Eager to stamp his authority from the outset, skipper Gidman took full advantage of the fielding restrictions to register eight fours as Lancashire’s bowlers struggled to find their line and length.He added 76 in 10 overs with fellow opener Hamish Marshall and a further 74 with New Zealander Kane Williamson before Simon Kerrigan forced an error and he was caught at the wicket for an 82-ball 76. When Williamson offered a return catch to Stephen Parry in the very next over, Gloucestershire were 154 for 3 in the 24th over.Much to the delight of a crowd of more than 4,000, Taylor and Cockbain maintained the scoring rate with a partnership of 86 in 12 overs for the fourth wicket. Thoroughly enjoying his experience in the wake of scoring 196 in a winning cause against Kent here 10 days earlier, Taylor cut and pulled fluently to raise 55 from 42 balls.Although he holed out to deep cover in the 36th over, Cockbain and Ireland World Cup star Kevin O’Brien ensured there was no respite for Lancashire’s flagging attack in an unbroken fifth wicket partnership that yielded 50 in four overs.Gloucestershire must have fancied their chances when Stephen Moore and Steven Croft departed without troubling the scorers in the first over. Moore was held at first slip off Ian Saxelby and Croft was brilliantly run out by O’Brien’s throw from mid-on in pursuit of a risky single.When Karl Brown played down the wrong line and was bowled by left-arm seamer David Payne for 27, the visitors were 52 for 3 and under pressure. Uninhibited by what was going on around him, Smith continued to play his shots, accruing 11 fours and raising 108 with Horton for the fourth wicket to put his side back into contention.He had scored 77 from 62 balls and was threatening to win the game when he pushed at a delivery of full length from O’Brien and fell to a sharp catch behind by Batty, who was standing up.Lancashire required 86 off the final 10 overs and Gareth Cross went on the offensive, lifting Saxelby over the pavilion for six and Oliver Newby, a former Gloucestershire loan signing, crashed 16 runs off three balls in the 37th over to spoil Payne’s figures as Lancashire closed in.Newby put the outcome beyond doubt, smashing a competition-best 35 not out from just 16 balls, including 4 fours and 2 sixes. But it was Horton’s well-timed innings, which included nine fours, which ensured victory.

India could not have sent a more honest man than Gautam Gambhir to face the media on a day like this. It was a day when Alastair Cook and the England middle order sent India on a leather hunt to all corners of Edgbaston; a day when the India bowlers walked around like parched and lost men in a desert; a day when India’s fielders acted like they were tired commuters waiting in the bus queue. It was only apt then that Gambhir, one of the most proud and passionate of cricketers, walked up, sat down and admitted, chin-up, that India were under pressure and England had control of the match.”I will not lie. We are under a lot of pressure. England hold the upper hand,” Gambhir said. “We have just not been able to live up to expectations or the reputation we have. We have not played good, smart cricket and we take responsibility as a team.”On Wednesday, a huge spiral of smoke gushed out of one corner of Birmingham, evidence that the vandalism and riots that have crippled normal life in several parts of England were still affecting the city. In the evening, the police shut the main roads leading in and out of the city. Just as the common man made a tentative start to the day on Thursday, India started the second day at Edgbaston circumspect, were steadily getting back to breathing easy, but then suddenly lost patience to end the day on a sombre note.Thursday morning was dark and overcast, and it was drizzling. India would have wished the clouds had not vanished. The game was delayed by just half an hour as the rain disappeared; for the rest of the day the English crowds celebrated the sunshine, and watched Alastair Cook and Co. dish out a sumptuous display of batting. Praveen Kumar showed a lot of heart to lead the Indian attack, but with Ishant Sharma, Sreesanth and Amit Mishra looking out of sorts, an emboldened England strengthened their grip on the series.Adding to India’s woes was some casual fielding, with four chances missed. Rahul Dravid managed to let two slip through his usually secure hands while Sreesanth let one go at point off Eoin Morgan. Alastair Cook was given a reprieve when on 165, by Sachin Tendulkar at mid-on. Tendulkar failed to notice that a loopy leading edge was heading towards him and let the ball drop just a few metres in front of him. The ground fielding was poor too, typified by Virender Sehwag’s reluctance to bend and interrupt a couple of drives, which fetched England some easy runs.”There are no excuses. It is a matter of concentration,” Gambhir said, before defending his fielders. “All teams drop catches; these things happen in cricket but I can’t tell you exactly why it is happening.” Was this really the response you would expect from a member of the reigning No.1 Test team and the freshly-crowned World Champions?Nothing went India’s way on the second day at Edgbaston•Getty Images

Through the series, Indian supporters have been waiting for the resilience MS Dhoni’s team has shown in the past to make an appearance. There was a glimpse of it on the first day at Trent Bridge when India seem to have cast aside the disappointment of Lord’s to have England reeling at 124 for 8 at tea. But Stuart Broad added 97 runs with the last two wickets to pull England back into the match. India lost the momentum quickly and lost the match.Gambhir went back to that first day in Trent Bridge as an example of how India have not taken their opportunities in this series. “We need to give credit to England. They are playing some good cricket and they have always taken the initiative in this series. We have not been able to take our chances. At Trent Bridge England were 124 for 8, but we did not take that chance.”Gambhir was not embarrassed to cite England’s performance in this series as a good example to learn from. He said if he and the other India batsmen had managed to play with the same determination with which Cook and Strauss played on the second morning at Edgbaston, India would not have been in the difficult position they are now. “You need to work hard in the first session of the first day of a Test match. If we had survived that extra half an hour before lunch yesterday, things would have been different. Alastair Cook batted brilliantly, showing a lot of grit, determination and patience. This is what Test cricket is about: once you are in try to make as many runs as possible.”England have a good attack but we have played good attacks before. South Africa had an equally good attack. The only difference there was we converted the starts into big hundreds. England have not let us off the hook and they have bowled well as a unit. That is what good teams do: try to put the opposition under pressure all the time. “Despite their desperate position in the match, Gambhir said, India are not losing heart. He said they had shown character whenever they were in a critical situation in the last 24 months. India’s batsmen have managed to come to the team’s rescue on more than one occasion in the recent past, and they have done it by converting starts into big, purposeful centuries. One fine example was Gambhir’s own marathon 137 that lasted seventeen minutes short of eleven hours and saved India from defeat in Napier, in hostile and swinging conditions two years ago.India find themselves in need of another show of such resolve and Gambhir said he is ready to stand strong. “We need to play good cricket and show some grit and fight. We have done it in the past. Napier is something from where we can take a lot of inspiration; we had to bat for two-and-a-half days and we managed to do that.”

Sourav Ganguly has welcomed the ICC’s decision to make the DRS mandatory for international Tests and ODIs, saying that there would only be more improvements ahead for all the parties involved. Ganguly told ESPNcricinfo that he understood India’s reluctance to use the system because, “they had their reasons”.Ganguly was a part of the Indian team which played the first series in which the DRS was used, against Sri Lanka in 2008. In the immediate aftermath of that series, the Indian team had expressed its lack of confidence in the technology to the BCCI. “At the time we were not convinced by the camera angles in use at the time,” Ganguly said. “We were not convinced they were right. There was so much negativity around it that we didn’t think it worked. Hopefully there’s much more consistency around it now.”Ganguly, who left Sri Lanka after the Test series, said he did not know whether the Indian team had made its concerns about the camera angles known either to the match referee or the broadcasters.After the 2008 series, Ganguly got a first-hand view of the DRS during his television commentary stint at the 2011 World Cup. “The changes were huge, the technology was just far better this time,” he said.Making the DRS mandatory for Tests and ODIs, he said, was a step forward for the game itself. “Would I have liked to have played under the DRS? It’s hard to say now, but you accept technology and you get used to it – and that’s probably what would have happened. In the case of the DRS, players will get better using it as they go along.”Ganguly said it was important that players’ opinions on the technology that involves them directly are heard, and any changes and improvements also communicated to them.Ganguly was in Hong Kong on the invitation of the ICC to speak at its annual conference. Along with Shane Watson this morning, he addressed the Full Council’s members’ forum, the last event of its annual conference. On his first visit to Hong Kong, Ganguly held a clinic for young players at the Kowloon Cricket Club yesterday, where he was asked what he thought about cricket in Hong Kong. He glanced around at KCC’s small ground with its short boundaries and said with a smile, “When I played, I loved hitting sixes.”

Two days before he is due to appear before a PCB disciplinary committee, Shahid Afridi and his lawyers asked the board again for justice, which in this case centred around an appeal to reinstate his central contract and NOC the June 8 hearing. Flanked by Syed Ali Zafar and Mahmood Mandviwalla of the legal firm Mandviwalla & Zafar, the trio refused, however, to rule in or out Afridi’s appearance at the hearing.Much of an energetic press conference at the Karachi Press Club – Afridi’s first public appearance since his return on Sunday night from the UK – reiterated the demands of the four-page letter the legal firm sent to the PCB over the weekend, as reported by ESPNcricinfo. Both lawyers stressed repeatedly that they were asking only for a due process to be followed and that the act of suspension of the central contract and NOC withdrawal were punishments the player had been heard.”Due process means if there is an accusation against someone, he should be allowed to defend that,” Zafar said. “He should have a legal representative there, his point of view should be allowed and a fair and just inquiry should happen and then a decision. What has happened is that a showcause notice has been sent, he has been accused of things and a punishment given. We say you can give punishment, but hear out our player first. It is a principle of natural justice.”Soon after he was sent a showcause notice, Afridi responded to the board and accepted that he had violated the code. But Zafar insisted that guilt or innocence was not yet the matter. “There is no admission of guilt or innocence,” Zafar said. “We have only said, carry out the proceedings but that the NOC and the suspension of contract, take that back and listen to us first. After that, make a decision. They have acted without hearing us out. This is our position and this is the right legal position. We are hopeful that they will make the right decision. It is just the way they have adopted currently shows that they have judged beforehand.”In a press release issued a few hours before the press conference, the board said it would allow Afridi a legal representative at the hearing, one of the demands of Afridi’s lawyers. But both Zafar and Mandviwalla said they had received no such communication yet and refused to say definitively whether that meant Afridi would appear at the hearing or not. However, the PCB’s legal advisor Taffazul Rizvi told ESPNcricinfo that after the press conference, Afridi’s lawyers had been told they will be allowed in, though they had yet to respond to it.”If this process remains, then that [not appearing] is an option,” Zafar said. “But if they really write a letter to us saying that a lawyer is allowed then we can think about it. We have no issue appearing but if this process remains, we cannot go.”Afridi’s arrival at Karachi airport on Sunday night drew thousands of supporters. Indicative of his popularity and background as a Pathan resident in Karachi, the occasion even saw a rare unity among the city’s strongest and constantly bickering political parties, the MQM and ANP. “I wanted to thank the public and the support I was given last night. People are saying that this is a political issue but when I got out of the airport, I saw flags of MQM, ANP, PPP (the ruling party), and especially the Pakistan flags. This is not a political thing. Many feel what I have done is right and that what has happened with me is wrong.”Afridi has been in touch with political figures through the mess, though he would only say that former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and Bilawal Bhutto Zardari – whom he bumped into at a dinner in London, he said – were keeping abreast of matters. “They know who is right and wrong, this is about power and who has that we all know,” he said.Otherwise he reiterated much of what he has been saying over the past week. He was upset that he had heard of his removal through the media, he wanted his NOC back, he was not seeking a fight, merely justice. “I am not here to fight, I am a cricketer, I want to play cricket. I want what is my right,” he said. “If they don’t want me to play for Pakistan, but at least let me play domestic cricket or county cricket. I want my right, my NOC.”He did warn, however, of the implications such a dispute between player and board can have on both current and future players. “An example should be set for cricketers of the future. Many things were a problem under my captaincy, whether that is management or anything else, there were problems. Until those things are solved….if I come back and those problems are still there, they will only increase over time. Those things need to be cleared so future cricketers don’t suffer and focus purely on cricket.”There are other senior players who are having problems, but because of central contracts they don’t say anything. They worry about their careers. It is not just me who has the problem. If I get out of the way today, one of them will come up. We want to finish these issues and focus on cricket. The way the board is treating all players is wrong. This is not how you finish player power, by humiliating them. I have played 13-14 years and I don’t want to finish like this, I want to leave with respect.”

Virender Sehwag will miss the rest of the IPL after deciding to undergo surgery on his injured right shoulder. The operation will take place later this week and, with recovery time pegged at six to eight weeks, it should rule him out of India’s upcoming tour of the West Indies from June 4, and perhaps even the England series that begins in mid-July.Sehwag picked up the injury, a slap lesion or labrum (shoulder blade) tear, during the 2009 IPL. He travelled to England for the World Twenty20 in 2009 carrying the injury, but did not play any of India’s matches and consulted with Andrew Wallace, the London-based surgeon who had worked on Sachin Tendulkar’s tennis elbow.A BCCI source said it would take a minimum of six to eight weeks for Sehwag to recover and following rehabilitation protocols will be important. “The possibility of Sehwag missing the England tour is high,” the source said.”It will be a miracle if he plays another match,” PB Vanchi, director of GMR Sports, owners of Delhi Daredevils, said. Delhi – who will now be led by James Hopes – are presently seventh in the points table and, with three games left, have a slim chance of making it to the qualifiers.Vanchi said the decision was taken after Sehwag held talks on his injury with the BCCI, who advised him to undergo surgery as soon as possible. “He has a problem, he struggled in the last match too. The BCCI is making the arrangements for the surgery,” Vanchi said. “They are waiting for a date. If he needs surgery we are not going to be coming in the way.”Sehwag confirmed the development and is expected to travel to London at the earliest for the surgery. The injury is the same one that had ruled him out of the two World Twenty20s and, more recently the one-day series in South Africa in January. Sehwag was declared fit in time for the World Cup after having undergone rehabilitation at the National Cricket Academy in Bangalore. Though he did not bowl during India’s victorious campaign, Sehwag finished seventh overall in the run charts, in the tournament, including a blistering century in the opening game against Bangladesh.Sehwag’s decision to play the IPL was always going to be potentially risky, especially in light of the heavy workload during the World Cup. But he had the dual responsibility of leading Delhi as well as being their best batsman. Sehwag is currently the top scorer in the IPL with 424 runs and his loss is likely to further hamper Delhi’s chances, who have managed just four wins out of their 11 games played so far.

Match facts

Tuesday, April 19
Start time 2000 (1430 GMT)Can the new Sri Lanka captain turn Bangalore’s fortunes around?•AFP

Big picture

Several franchises have started this season of the IPL with completely new squads, led by new captains. Results have varied. Sides like Kolkata Knight Riders, who have breezed to three consecutive wins, and Kings XI Punjab, who have won two on the trot, have found success. But Royal Challengers Bangalore have found life hard, losing their last three games. While a new squad will naturally take some time to settle, what could be more revealing is the background of sides going in for an overhaul. While a side like Kolkata had every reason to do so given their woeful performances in preceding seasons, Bangalore’s decision, on early evidence, could well turn out to be a case of trying to fix something that, albeit a bit creaky, wasn’t broken.Their problems have started at the top. Despite having Tillakaratne Dilshan in the squad, their opening partnerships have been worth 7, 0, 8 and 1 in their four matches so far. The bowling has leaked in excess of 160 on all three occasions they have bowled first. Sending in Zaheer Khan and Asad Pathan at No. 3 can be called either unconventional or desperate, depending on what view of the half-filled glass one holds. Not to mention the numerous misfields and dropped catches in their previous match against Chennai Super Kings.At the moment, Bangalore could do with lots of inspiration, as could Rajasthan Royals, who put in a performance against Kolkata on Sunday that, according to their captain Shane Warne, was “weak, soft and embarrassing” . Rajasthan’s abject batting capitulation – they scored 81 – even led Warne to call it a “boys against men” kind of innings. Rajasthan have generally punched above their weight in the IPL but have been blown away by a strong Kolkata unit twice in three days. Tuesday’s match is the second of their three away games in five days. Can the strong words from their inspirational captain make them lift their performance against a struggling Bangalore side?

Team talk

Bangalore could look at sending Virat Kohli in at No 3, given how the experiments with pinch-hitters have come unstuck. Mayank Agarwal hasn’t made use of his opportunities at the top of the order, and could be replaced. Cheteshwar Pujara would not be a bad idea as opener, considering he is a top-order batsman and is being wasted at No. 7.Rajasthan have missed the injured Rahul Dravid and Johan Botha. While Dravid should walk into the XI if he is fit, it will be interesting to see whether Rajasthan drop Shaun Tait for Botha. On current form, and considering the all-round skills of Botha, they should. Amit Paunikar hasn’t got going as an opener, and his place could also come under scrutiny.Predict the playing XIs for this match. Play ESPNcricinfo Team selector.

In the spotlight

The newly-announced Sri Lanka captain, Tillakaratne Dilshan, hasn’t got going so far in this IPL, with a slow half-century against Mumbai Indians his only double-figure score. Will the added responsibility back home result in a better performance on Tuesday?Shane Watson has threatened to explode in each of his two games since returning from a demolition of Bangladesh. He was undone by a beauty from L Balaji against Kolkata. Will he tee off at the Chinnaswamy?

Prime numbers

• Two of the three 150-plus partnerships in the IPL have been scored against Rajasthan
• There were no five-wicket hauls in the 2010 IPL. Lasith Malinga has one in this edition; can Shane Warne or Zaheer Khan take one tomorrow?
• In his time as a Bangalore player Virat Kohli has scored 859 runs in IPLs at a strike-rate of 122.01, marginally behind now visitor Rahul Dravid who had 898 runs for the franchise in IPLs, at 122.8

The chatter

“I really can’t pin-point anything that we are doing wrong except for bad fielding, bad batting and bowling.”