Bangalore face Kolkata in heavyweight clash (Preview)

What a mouth-watering prospect is in store for all of us, the Bangalore juggernaut will face the might of Kolkata. Both teams have been very impressive in IPL-4 with their all-round play and intense cricket on the field, as a result they are almost through to the next round. Both sides have the quality among their ranks to compete with the very best in the tournament and it surely should be cracker jack of a contest.

The big picture is that both sides are neck to neck on the points table, Bangalore have 15 points (1 match was rained off) and Kolkata have 14 points. With the two teams likely to make the cut for play-offs, the real prize for winner of this match is the possibility of finishing in the top two and gets two bites at the cherry as per the tournament rules.

The home side are on a roll since the arrival of Chris Gayle. The West Indian showman has been absolutely fantastic with the bat, he is just 26 runs away from the Orange Cap and what is more amazing is that he has played just 6 matches. So if everything goes well for him, the coveted cap should find itself on Gayle’s head after this match. The absence of Tillakaratne Dilshan would have jolted any team but Bangalore batting is so strong that his nonattendance would hardly be felt. Captain Daniel Vettori didn’t play the last match, his replacement Virat Kohli didn’t do too badly either. So he will continue if the Kiwi isn’t match fit for the game.

Kolkata may not have been as dominating as their opponents but they definitely have won enough number of games to get themselves to a good position. Their bowling attack is very balanced with the likes of Brett Lee and Laxmipathy Balaji, plus, young Iqbal Abdulla has been a revelation. The batting also has some big names in the shape of Jacques Kallis, Gautam Gambhir and Eoin Morgan. The aggressive Yusuf Pathan can be dangerous at any stage of the game. They have also gelled well as a unit and that shows when they are out on the field.

Bangalore look slight favorites in this match purely because of the Gayle factor because once he gets going, it doesn’t matter which team is playing against him, Bangalore invariably emerge as winners.

BANGALORE

Players who can make impact…

Chris Gayle….What a player for Bangalore, he has not lost a single game while in the Bangalore colours. His has been on fire in IPL-4, only 5 minutes of Gayle madness and he would be a worthy holder of the Orange Cap. Kolkata chances would increase if they prevent Gayle form doing that.

Zaheer Khan… The left armer has been steady so far, hasn’t conceded too many runs even when bowling at the death. His intelligent variations have provided the team breakthroughs at crucial junctures.

SQUAD

AB de Villiers, Abhimanyu Mithun,Abrar Kazi,Arun Karthik,Asad Pathan,BN Barath,Charl Langeveldt,Cheteshwar Pujara, Daniel Vettori (c),Dirk Nannes,Johan van der Wath, Jonathan Vandiar,Luke Pomersbach,Mayank Agarwal,Mohammad Kaif,Muralidharen Gautam,Nuwan Pradeep,Raju Bhatkal,Rilee Rossouw,Ryan Ninan,Saurabh Tiwary, Sreenath Aravind, Tillakaratne Dilshan (withdrawn player) ,Virat Kohli, Zaheer Khan.

KOLKATA

Players who can make impact…

Yusuf Pathan…Unlike Gayle he bats in the middle order for Kolkata but he is equally devastating with the bat.

Brett Lee…..One of the fastest bowlers on the planet against the most destructive batsmen, it should be some contest. Gayle may intimidating for bowlers, but Lee is no ordinary cricketer and can hold his own

SQUAD

Brett Lee, Eoin Morgan, Gautam Gambhir(c), Iqbal Abdulla, Jacques Kallis, Jaidev Unadkat, James Pattinson, Laxmipathy Balaji, Laxmi Shukla, Mark Boucher (wk), Manoj Tiwary, Manvinder Bisla, Pradeep Sangwan, Rajat Bhatia, Ryan ten Doeschate, Saqibul Hassan, Sarabjit Ladda, Shami Ahmed, Shreevats Goswami (wk),Yusuf Pathan.