Inconsistent Hyderabad take on upbeat Kolkata (Preview)

It has been a rollercoaster ride for the home team, Hyderabad have won only three out of eight games played this season. The Kumar Sangakkara led side has been brilliant in the games won showing what they bring to the plate. At the same time, they have been very poor in the lost games failing to seize crucial moments. In majority of the lost games, Hyderabad have squandered commanding positions to their opponents relegating them to bottom half of the IPL points table.

What had plagued Hyderabad, otherwise a well balanced side on paper, that it hasn’t put all three facets of its game together in a single outing. Their last game was a tale of not sustaining the upper hand for a long period and it was a case of Hyderabad losing the game from the pole position.

For major part of their bowling effort they had Chennai under control, save for last five overs, in which they leaked as many as 69 runs and boosted Chennai to 165. And scene was not different during their chase racing to 90 runs in the first half but succumbed in later stages to lose the game.

For Hyderabad to make an upward move in the table, big guns like Sangakkara, JP Dumminy and Dale Steyn have to be on top of the game in rest of the fixtures. Local recruits need also to put their hand up and contribute to the team cause.

Their opponents on Tuesday, Kolkata, of late, have been on a roll winning home and away games thanks to their all-round brilliance. The most refreshing aspect of Kolkata’s winning march has been the intensity the players have shown on the field. Players seem to have known their respective roles in the side and team selection has been spot on as well in line with the pitch conditions.

Gautam Gambhir has led the side well and donned the role of anchoring the team’s batting effort. Local lad Manoj Tiwary is proving to be a productive signing, consistently scoring runs for his side and most of them coming when team needed them the most.

Young left arm spinner Iqbal Abdulla is proving to be a breath of fresh air taking wickets regularly and also been able to put a lid on the scoring rate. The most impressive thing about the youngster has been his willingness to bowl when the slog is on and has come trumps more often than not.

The Shahrukh Khan owned team go into this away fixture as clear favourites and the tag might suit their opponents Hyderabad who will be keen to fight inconsistency and make sure key moments are not surrendered to Kolkata.

KOLKATA

Players who can make impact…

Gautam Gambhir ….The skipper has taken it upon himself to anchor the innings and has done that very well so far. With Gambhir having a sound technique and Hyderabad possessing two fearsome fast bowlers, left hander will hold the key.

Laxmipathy Balaji…He may not have the pace to trouble batsmen but certainly variations to out-guess them. His slow bouncer has been hard for batsmen to pick and ability to bowl yorkers in the death overs make him an impact player hard to ignore.

SQUAD

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

HYDERABAD

Players who can make impact…

Pragyan Ojha…He was very impressive against Chennai and left arm spinner would like to build on the good work as he seeks to make a comeback in the national side. He isn’t afraid of giving the ball some air and batsmen have found him difficult to get away

K Sangakkara....The home Skipper played a rash shot that virtually cost his side a game against Chennai. Sangakkara will be keen to make amends by winning the game for his side. Kolkata will have to be ready for a Sanga backlash.

SQUAD

Akash Bhandari, Amit Mishra, Anand Rajan, Ankit Sharma, Ashish Reddy, Bharat Chipli, Cameron White, Chris Lynn, Dale Steyn, Daniel Christian, DR Teja, Harmeet Singh, Ishan Malhotra, Ishank Jaggi, Ishant Sharma, Jaydev Shah, JP Duminy, Juan Theron, K Sangakkara (c)(wk), Kedar Devdhar, Manpreet Gony, Michael Lumb, Pragyan Ojha, Shikhar Dhawan, Sunny Sohal.