TheSportsCampus

< Prev		Next >

We're barely four days into the start of the new season of the IPL, and the action already seems to be unrelenting, with the teams desperate to get their campaigns off to a good start. The Kolkata Knight Riders will entertain the yellow brigade from the South, the Chennai Super Kings in an 8pm match on Tuesday, March 16th. The contest sees the reunion of former India Captain Sourav 'Dada' Ganguly and the present skipper MS Dhoni. While Dada is known to be an outspoken and animated person on the field, Dhoni comes around as Captain Cool who keeps his emotions to himself. The face-off between two of the most successful captains in the history of Indian cricket promises to be an exciting skirmish.

The Hosts

The change of color seems to working for Kolkata as they sit pretty at the top of the League after defeating both the finalists of IPL - 2 in their opening matches. If it was a question of holding their nerve against the Deccan Chargers in the season opener on Friday, it was a case of a clinical demolition against the Royal Challengers Bangalore on Sunday for the IPL's most glamorous team. After an erratic couple of seasons, the Knight Riders finally look a settled unit and they would be keen to keep the momentum going.

The opening pair of Manoj Tiwary and Brad Hodge looked in tremendous touch against the Royal Challengers, striking the ball crisply en route to quick fire fifties. They more than made up for their flop show in the first match with a blistering show against RCB. And, it'll once again depend on them to get their team off to a good start at the top of the order. KKR captain Sourav Ganguly, Cheteshwar Pujara and, the overseas pair of Owais Shah and Angelo Mathews give the middle order a very a formidable look. Shah and Mathews seem to have really grabbed the opportunity of being in the team with both hands in the absence of big name foreign players like Brendon McCullum, Chris Gayle and David Hussey.

Ganguly will be hoping that his Indo - South African pair of Ishant Sharma and Charl Langeveldt will provide the breakthroughs against a dangerous Super Kings batting line-up upfront. Murali Kartik had a good outing against RCB on Sunday with a couple of wickets to his name. The fact that the Chennai batsmen faced the blues against fellow Indian left arm spinner Pragyan Ohja in the previous match, will have Kartik come into the match with his tail up.

If it was McCullum who took the inaugural IPL by storm with his blitzkrieg in the opening match, it is Angelo Mathews who has everyone's attention with outstanding performances in this year's IPL. First it was his match winning knock of 65 with five hits speeding to the fence and four sailing over against DC. Then, he weaved his magic with the ball at Eden Gardens as he finished with impressive figures of 4-19 and was very unlucky not to have bagged his second man-of-the-match award of IPL 3.0.

The Visitors

Finalists of IPL-1 and semi-finalists of IPL-2, the Chennai Super Kings got off to the worst possible start in IPL 3.0 with a demoralizing defeat at the hands of reigning IPL champions Deccan Chargers at Chepauk on Sunday. Dhoni and his men will have to recover quickly from the 31-run loss or they face the risk of being thumped again by the team in form, KKR at Eden Gardens.

Though CSK boast of quality right through their line-up neither the batsmen nor the bowlers came to the party on Sunday against DC. Albie Morkel, who lost his place in the Proteas side due to poor form, looked totally out of sorts with the new ball. But his brilliant batting display guarantees him a spot in the playing XI. He needs to get back into rhythm soon, not just for his franchise to do well but also with the Twenty20 World Cup round the corner. His bowling partners, Sudeep Tyagi and Lakshmipathy Balaji were woeful with the former going for 39 runs in 1.5 overs before he was taken out of the attack for bowling two beamers. The latter gave away 36 from 4 overs.

The bowling remains a big worry for the Super Kings and they will be better served to go in with three spinners instead of the misfiring pacers. Shadab Jakati, who was a revelation in South Africa, will definitely be a handful against Kolkata, which has five right handers in their top six. But he is unlikely to get a start with veteran offie Muralitharan and young apprentice R Ashwin both bowling well on Sunday. Manpreet Singh Gony though looks like a sure starter against Kolkata and young Tyagi is most likely to face the axe.

With the likes of power hitters Justin Kemp, Dhoni and Morkel coming down the order, all that Chennai need to do is set a solid foundation at the top. The burly Aussie Matthew Hayden and Suresh Raina will have to up their game to ensure that the Chepauk debacle is not repeated against KKR. Murali Vijay might get another chance to show his skills in the shortest format of the game, with another failure sure to make way for Parthiv Patil in the next game.

Trump Cards

Angelo Mathews: The young Sri Lankan has been simply awesome for KKR in the first couple of matches. He can change the situation of a match, both with bat and ball with equal ease.

M S Dhoni: Captain Cool was at his bludgeoning best against DC as he raced to 42 off just 29 balls. But with virtually no support from the other end, barring Morkel (42 off 26), Dhoni looked haplessly as his side bit the dust on Sunday. The onus will be on him to inspire his team on the field in front of a passionate Kolkata crowd.

Head-2-Head

In the four previous meetings between the two teams, Chennai won both the games in IPL-1 with Kolkata winning their home game in IPL-2 and the other match being abandoned due to rain. In 2008, when CSK battled KKR at the Eden Gardens, Mathew Hayden (70*) powered his side through with able support from his captain Dhoni (48*) while chasing 148.

Likely Playing XI:

Kolkata Knight Riders: Hodge, Tiwary, Ganguly (C), Pujara, Shah, Mathews, R Gavaskar, Saha (WK), Kartik, Langeveldt, Ishant Sharma.

Chennai Super Kings: Hayden, Vijay, Raina, Badrinath, Kemp, Dhoni (C & WK), Morkel, Gony, Ashwin, Balaji, Muralitharan.

Prediction: On paper both teams have the fire power to ensure this match will be an enthralling contest. But on the basis of current form and the added advantage of the '12th man' at the Eden Gardens, Kolkata Knight Riders look to be the favourites. But with Hayden, Raina, Dhoni, Kemp and Morkel in the side, Chennai are just a hit away from getting back to winning ways.

Also read: Match Preview - RCB vs. KXIP

File Photograph Copyright: Gayatri Naik

This article is the exclusive copyright of TheSportsCampus.com and permission to reproduce the same has not been granted