Kochi kick-start their IPL career against Bangalore (Preview)

IPL 2011

3rd IPL Match

Kochi versus Bangalor

Venue: Nehru Stadium, Kochi

Start Time: 20:00 (IST)

Ever since its inception in IPL, Kochi, owned by Kochi Cricket Pvt Ltd, a consortium of multiple companies, has been in centre of many controversies ranging from factionalism and infighting to those of home ground issues. All those issues appear to have been buried now and team is desperate to put up a decent performance on a cricket field and make a name in their maiden IPL season.

Kochi will find it a touch difficult to find a combination and get a hang of the things in early stages of the game as they play in the tournament for the first time. But what has impressed as far Kochi team management is concerned is the way they have spent the money and picked up the right men for this format.

Led by Sri Lankan middle order batsman Mahela Jayewardene team who is not new to this job having a three-year successful stint with his national team, Kochi squad has a right combination of traditional cricketers and ones who are made for this format only.

While Jayewardene will bring calm to the proceeding, his Sri Lankan teammate Muthaih Murlitharan and Indian star VVS Laxman will be there for him to offer valuable tips.

They will be up against what looks a terrific side on paper Bangalore which is arguably one of the better balanced sides in the tournament. Newly appointed skipper Daniel Vettori, best left arm spinner going around, will have a plenty of talent and experience to turn to during the next 50 days of IPL.

Vijay Mallya owned side is packed with world class cricketers with some explosive batsmen in the form of Tilkeratne Dilshan, Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers and if one has a look at the bowling lineup it boasts of some terrific names like Indian spearhead Zaheer Khan, Dirk Nannes and skipper himself.

It would be a surprise if team doesn’t go the distance in the tournament and for that to happen a good start is very important. A real battle on Saturday it appears will be between Kochi batting line-up and bowling department of Bangalore.

KOCHI

For Kochi, a good show in the earlier stages to calm the nerves of the management and fans is of utmost importance and that would help them in a long way to instill a kind of belief in the set up that takes it to win the a big title like IPL.

Batting unit is an accomplished one with players like Brendon McCullum, Brad Hodge and Jayawardene himself capable of winning any cricket match on their own. They will have a solidity factor in the shape of VVS Laxman who is also the batting coach of the side.

It is the bowling line-up, fast bowling in particular, that should concern team management as barring Sreesanth and Indian team discard RP Singh there are enough fast bowlers who can run through the opposition. Even the duo is also struggling for form with Sreesanth being the least impressive of the Indian seamers in the world cup.

There are no problems in the spin department though as it will be led by none other than champion off-spinner Muralitharan himself and will have the services of tidy left arm spin Ravindra Jadeja as well.

Players who can make impact…

Sreesanth….He might have failed to impress in the world cup but will be playing infront of the home crowd who will be cheering their star to the hilt, that should egg him to put up a decent show..He would be keen to put behind poor world cup performance and getting the early breakthroughs for the team.

Brendon McCullum…He was the one who set the inaugural IPL on fire by cracking an aggressive century in the first match of the season while playing for Kolkata…He will be eager to repeat the show for his new team and enhance his reputation as one of the destructive batsmen going in the league.

SQUAD

B McCullum, Balachandra Akhil, Brad Hodge, Chandan Madan, Deepak Chougule, Gnaneswara Rao,John Hastings, Kedar Jadhav, M Jayawardene (c), Michael Klinger, Muttiah Muralitharan, Owais Shah, P Padmanabhan, Parthiv Patel (wk), Raiphi Gomez, Ramesh Powar, Ravindra Jadeja, RP Singh, S Sreesanth, Steve O'Keefe, Steven Smith, Sushant Marathe, Tanmay Srivastava, Thissara Perera, Vinay Kumar,VVS Laxman, Yashpal Singh

BANGALORE

One can hardly figure out any weakness while going through the squad of new looking Bangalore after it opted not to retain many of its players that were part of the setup in first three seasons.

Its batting line-up is intimidating enough to take attack to any bowling unit of the tournament with likes of Dilshan, AB and Kohli making the fulcrum while bowling is strong enough to rattle any opposition as Zaheer, Nannes, Vettori and some talented Indian bowlers are going to be there to make impact on any given day.

By the look of things, it could well be the best fielding side of the tournament. All in all, it is Bangalore that hold more aces while going into their first match of the season against Kochi.

Players who can make impact…

Dirk Nannes…Former skating player, this left arm fast bowlers is made for this format...He has a knack of getting wickets that makes him a very dangerous in this format, His action, pace and variations with the ball should be more than handful on slow Indian pitches that augurs well for Bangalore.

Virat Kohli…Two years into his international career, Delhi batsman is already a star and has won many matches for his country culminating into being part of the world cup winning squad…Kind of form he is in at the moment, a big score from his bat shouldn’t be a surprise.

SQUAD

AB de Villiers, Abhimanyu Mithun, Abrar Kazi, Arun Karthik, Asad Pathan, BN Bharath, 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, Virat Kohli, Zaheer Khan