The Deccan Chargers meet the Rajasthan Royals in an Indian Premier League match in Kimberley on Monday, in a head-to-head joust between the two Australian captains in the tournament, Adam Gilchrist and Shane Warne.
Both sides played in Kimberley on Saturday and lost, so there is an incentive not to leave the city famous for its "Big Hole" diamond mine without a win.
Warne, in a player-coach role, has managed to pull his side around from an indifferent start. The champions have a 60 percent win record from their last five matches, whereas the Deccan Chargers have only a 20 percent success rate in their last five outings.
Gilchrist lost a big bowler in Fidel Edwards to the West Indies-England Test series a few matches back, but welcomed Australian all-rounder Andrew Symonds into the ranks at the weekend.
The big, dreadlocked Aussie wasted no time showing he could be a major influence in his team's fortunes by hitting 60 not out off 36 balls, including two sixes and four fours, against the Kings XI Punjab.
Sadly the Deccan Chargers, who started the tournament with four victories in a row, lost that match, go into Monday's encounter one point behind the Rajasthan Royals, but having played one game fewer.
The Rajasthan Royals beat the Deccan Chargers by three wickets in Port Elizabeth the last time the two sides met, even though Warne's side were in dire straits on 3-3 early on, chasing 142.
And without the services of last season's hero Shane Watson because of an injury sustained on Australian duty against Pakistan in the UAE, the Rajasthan Royals and their Aussie skipper will continue to rely on opener Graeme Smith anchoring the batting effort, with a bevy of hitters to up the pace when necessary, around the big South African left-hander.
Smith's top score of 30 against the Chennai Super Kings on Saturday and a few 20s were the main feature of a score of 140, which Warne rated about 20 short of par for the Kimberley pitch. Warne, who has regularly used off-spinner Yusuf Pathan to open the bowling, did add that the spinners had done well thus far, so look forward to him using all the varieties of slow bowling at his disposal on Monday.
In terms of individual achievement in the tournament, Gilchrist's 255 runs are the best between the two teams, with Deccan Chargers team-mate Rohit Sharma on 232.
Going into the match the best Rajasthan Royals batsman is Yusuf with 210 runs. Left-hander Ravindra Jadeja is next best among the Rajasthan Royals on 196 runs from nine innings, four runs more than Smith.
