Kolkata Knight Riders v Rajasthan Royals at Kolkata
Rajasthan would like to win this match to statistically confirm a place in the semi finals while for Kolkata, it is a do or die match.
Men at the Helm
Both Warne and Ganguly have been inspirational for their sides but Ganguly is still to fully come to terms with the nuances of the youngest baby of the sport. The last match between these two left a sour after taste. It would be interesting to see what they come up with, this time.
We have the bat
Apart from Smith and Ganguly there are no huge stars in any of the teams but certainly there are a few in line to become stars. Watch out for Asnodkar, Watson and Pathan from Royals and Hussey, Butt and Debabrata Das from Knight Riders.
We have the ball
These two sides have bowled the best in the tournament. Kolkata are a much starry bowling line up with Ishant and Shoaib in the ranks. But Rajasthan pacers have bowled with immaculate line and length while Shane Warne has added the flair. Shoaib sustained an injury in the last match and Kolkata would dearly like him to be fit in time for this one.
Patrolling Party
Rajasthan have fielded very well in the tournament. Kolkata on the other hand have been patchy, being brilliant at times and sloppy at others.
High on betting meter
Rajasthan are high on betting meter with returns around 70 percent while Kolkata give returns of over 100 percent.
Who gets the tick?
Knight Riders have been riding on some individual performances. They don’t look a solid unit. Royals are on a roll at the moment andKolkata will have to dish out something spectacular to pull off this one.
A Preview: Delhi DareDevils were in a desperate situation before today’s match against the Bangalore Royal Challengers. They had had 10 points off eleven matches, and with only three matches to play for them, an all win record from now on would take them to sixteen. Mumbai Indians, on the other hand, had 12 off ten, thus would need only two wins off their four matches to equal Delhi even if they win all! This only meant one thing, it was a must win situation for the DareDevils. At the other end of the spectrum, one had the Bangalore Royal Challengers sitting with four points for some time now, showing no urgency to move anywhere, but down the points table.
Spin of coin: Delhi DareDevils won the toss and elected to field first on a pitch that was supposed to play slower and lower as the game progressed. His reasoning would have been simple, it is easier to chase in a twenty over encounter when you have the target in sight, than actually setting one.
Compositions: There were about half a dozen changes made in all, to both the sides, which was a record of sorts. For the Delhi DareDevils, Amit Mishra was very surprisingly rested after a brilliant performance earlier and in came Yo Mahesh, where as Shoaib Malik made way for A.B. deVilliers. The Royal Challengers’ challenge had ended, and hence they decided to bring in some new players as well, Dale Steyn, Sreevats Goswami, B. Akhil and Bharat Chipli making it into the playing XI.
The Review: The biggest problem facing Bangalore Royal Challengers is their opening partnership, and hence it was no big surprise to see their eighth opening pair of the tournament walk out to face up the bowling, in the form of Jacques Kallis and Bharat Chipli. Chipli did not last long, but it was the second wicket partnership of Kallis and Under-19 ‘keeper and debutant, Sreevats Goswami that stabilized the innings. Kallis was dismissed by Farveez Maharoof and was soon followed by Dravid’s dismissal, but Sreevats duly completed his half century, making him the youngest in the tournament to do so. However, he soon departed in a bid to up the ante, and the Challengers lost wickets at regular interval to stutter to 130/7 in 19 overs. It was here that Misbah-ul-Haq bashed 24 runs off Rajat Bhatia to propel the Challengers’ score to 154/7 in the 20. McGrath was his miserly self with figures of 4-0-15-2, but Maharoof went one better, his four overs yielding only 13 runs for the two wickets.
Delhi’s reply was exactly as their team name suggests, ‘daredevilish’. It was Gautam Gambhir who continued his good form – to reach 500 runs in the tournament – but Sehwag quickly joined in the party and left his partner way behind. The powerplay – of six overs – went for 71 without a loss of any wickets, where as the next over went for 19, before Sehwag cut one straight to the point’s throat. Delhi was 90/1 at this stage in only 7 overs! It was only the wicket of Gambhir and the subsequent introduction of the spinners that stemmed the flow of scoring to such an extent, that the batsmen begun to feel the pressure and soon succumbed to it. Dilshan was stumped off Kumble, where as de Villiers edged one off Steyn. When Dinesh Karthik fell at the score of 132, the DareDevils still required 22 runs of 27 balls. They did stutter a bit, but in the end, reached their target with five wickets and 10 deliveries to spare.
The MoM: For a change, we had a played from the losing side win the Man-of-the-Match award, Sreevats Goswami winning it for his well crafted 50 along with three dismissals – a catch, stumping and a run-out!
IPL Commissioner Lalit Modi unveiled the Indian Premier League winner’s trophy, at an event at the Cricket Centre in Mumbai on Monday. The Trophy is studded with diamonds and hand crafted with a player in gold leaf next to map of India with the names of the teams engraved and containing eight rubies representing the eight teams.The gold weight of the statue is 691.15 grammes.
The Trophy has been designed by the Antwerp-based RosyBlue Group, owners of the Orra diamond brand, by 14 artisans specially selected for the job - mentioned chief designer Mona Mehta who was present at the venue along with CEO Vijay Jain.
“It’s a handcrafted and very expensive rotating trophy, the value of which I will not reveal. It has been crafted by Orra’s design team,” said Modi.
“The winning team will get a replica of this trophy,” he clarified.
Its only a wait and watch now for the final winners of the DLF-IPL tournament which is turning into the most exciting event in the history of Indian Cricket.
IPL Commisioner Lalit Modi rushed in to bend rules and keep Franchisee Owner Shahrukh Khan happy. IPL is now issuing a Red Pass for Franchisee Owners or their represenatives with which they should have access to the players dressing room and dug-out area in the field. However, the duration of such visit should not exceed 15 minutes - Modi said in a press meet today.
Earlier to this Shahrukh was seen moving around in the field freely during the match and even shared a few moments in the Chennai Super Kings Dug-out while his team battled with them in the field. The ICC anti-corruption rightly took exception of this action and asked him to stay away from such mis-adventures as per the code-of-conduct.
Khan already upset with his teams dismal performance in the DLF-IPL league announced his decision to stay away from the field for the remaining matches.
The new IPL rule which came in today was not taken well by many including former cricketer Sandip Patil who was upfront in asking the IPL Governing body as to why this kind of a pass is introduced only now when the tournament is well past a month.
According to a report in a London newspaper, one of India’s wealthiest families, also franchisee owners of an IPL team, wants Kevin Pietersen to sign “at any price”. As such possibilities are strong that Pietersen will be seen in action in the next edition of the Indian Premier League.
Rumors are running high in Mumbai that the Mumbai Indians have offered him a contract in excess of a $4 million for three years and the England and Welsh Cricket Board has all but finalised his release. Other than Mumbai, Bangalore Royal Challengers are also keen to rope in the Englishmen.
Rajasthan would like to win this match to statistically confirm a place in the semi finals while for Kolkata, it is a do or die match.