Kolkata challenge at Eden Gardens for Rajasthan (Preview)

Just a day ago, these two teams played against at each other with Rajasthan being the hosts. It was the visiting team, Kolkata that dominated the game outplaying home team to score a comfortable win.

Now, it will be Rajasthan’s turn to travel to Eden Gardens, Kolkata’s home ground and lock horns with upbeat Gautam Gambhir led Kolkata, on a role after winning two games in a row.

As of now, Kolkata looks a side’s that means business with new players adding to the team’s strengths. Poor three seasons of the IPL seems to have been forgotten and it appears renaissance has dawned upon the side under Gambhir’s captaincy.

The side is buzzing with confidence as big guns like Jacques Kallis, skipper himself, Yusuf Pathan and youngsters have stepped to the plate to contribute to the winning cause. Focus seems to be on team performance rather than individuals and players from different countries and states have gelled together to put up a decent team that could well its eyes set on the ultimate prize.

Kallis with the bat has been a revelation scoring runs at a good pelt and lending solidity to the top order while Gambhir, Tiwary and Pathan have also been amongst the runs to make it a one strong batting unit. Likes of Eoin Morgan and Shaqibul Hassan, talented left handers, haven’t had many chances to bat so far but underestimating the duo will be no less than a mistake.

In victory against Rajasthan, bowlers did well to restrict likes of Shane Watson and Ross Taylor under-160 which was followed with a terrific partnership between Gambhir and Kallis. Fielding was also of top notch as players seemed to take pleasure in diving around in the field. All these symptoms augur well for Kolkata’s campaign not a big news for their opponents.

Bowling looked a touch weaker but with the inclusion of Brett Lee and Shaqibul Hassan it looks a bowling attack with pace, variety and options. Gambhir has so many options at disposal in the bowling as he did in against Rajasthan not to let batsmen to settle to a particular bowler.

Gambhir has sent a strong message to the opponents stating that his team wasn’t in the IPL to make mere number but determined to have a dash at the trophy. With no Sourav Ganguly in the side, Kolkata fans didn’t turn up in numbers for home side first game at Eden Gardens and it will be interesting to see fan turn-out for this match.

Rajasthan after winning two games had no answer to Gambhir- Kallis partnership tasting their first defeat this season. To be fair with Rajasthan bowlers, they were up against some quality that day on a pitch with some runs in it.

Shane Warne had a bad day as captain that day inexplicably batting Shane Watson and Ross Taylor too deep in the order. Innings needed impetus early on and momentum needed to be wrested upfront but that didn’t happen with batsmen who aren’t big hitters occupying the crease rather than Watson and Taylor.

Bowling lacked venom against Kolkata and were scored off easily and they will have same batsmen to confront on Sunday. Only Shane Warne had respectable figures as none of the bowlers could claim the wicket that day. Warne for reasons known to him opted to rest pace bowler Shaun Tait and his wicket taking abilities were missed big time.

There is a strong case of drafting Tait back into playing eleven as only way to keep strong Kolkata under control is to take wickets and Tait can do that.

KOLKATA

Players who can make impact…

Brett Lee…The ageing Australian speedster is at his fittest best and bowling with control and variations ever since he came back from injury. He may not be as pacy as he used to be but has become very clever with changes in variations adding a slower bouncer to his repertoire. He can be lethal at the death as well with his yorkers.

Shaqibul Hassan…One of the better left arm spinner and all-rounders going around, Bangladesh skipper can be handy with both bat and ball. His left arm spin can be more than handy in the middle overs as he showed against Rajasthan. With him batting at number six, he could well turn out to be a finisher for his side.

SQUAD

Brad Haddin (wk),Brett Lee, Eoin Morgan, Gautam Gambhir(c),Iqbal Abdulla, Jacques Kallis, Jaidev Unadkat, James Pattinson,Lakshmipathy 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

RAJASTHAN

Players who can make impact…

Shane Watson…There aren’t many who are in better hitting form than him at this moment. He showed his hitting prowess against Bangladesh smoking fifteen sixes in one ODI and IPL and his team demands that kind of innings from him. While he can tear apart any bowling lineup batting top of the order while his four overs of medium pace give flexibility to Rajasthan Royals.

Shaun Tait…He can be Rajasthan’s answer to Lee. Tait with his 150 kph pace can rattle top order early and can come back to bowl his yorkers with a searing pace to peg back teams in the middle overs. It will be a fascinating battle between Gambhir and co. facing Tait at a full throttle.

SQUAD

Aakash Chopra, Abhishek Raut, Aditya Dole, Ajinkya Rahane, Amit Paunikar, Amit Singh, Ankeet Chavan, Ashok Menaria, Deepak Chahar, Dinesh Salunkhe, Dishant Yagnik, Faiz Fazal, Johan Botha, Nayan Doshi, Pankaj Singh, Pinal Shah, Rahul Dravid, Ross Taylor, Samad Fallah, Shane Warne (c), Shane Watson, Shaun Tait, Siddharth Trivedi, Stuart Binny, Sumit Narwal, Swapnil Asnodkar