Rajasthan eye hat trick of victories (Preview)

Some captains have a knack of getting best out of ordinary, and, Shane Warne is certainly one of them. Shane Warne didn’t get to captain his national side Australia many times but he is proving to be one inspirational leader.

Into its fourth season of captaincy with Rajasthan franchise, Warne has moulded a star-less squad into a champion side.

He led the side to first silverware by winning the inaugural edition with a team that hardly boasted of big names.

After two not so good IPL seasons Warne led Rajasthan looks a team on a mission as players-most of them new to the team thanks to auction earlier this year-seem to be full of confidence and belief.

They have already notched up two victories in as many matches this season and it appears Warne has earmarked his to be stars for the team’s progress to the deep end.

In two victories so far, players seem to have known what their role in the team is and senior players like Rahul Dravid and Johan Botha have been given the duties to anchor the innings in order to make sure one of them is there till the end of the innings.

Botha has done already done in the two games and Warne’s influence seems to have rubbed on his shoulders as he proving to be one terrific match winner with the bat, known more for his bowling though.

Young Indian players like Amit Paunikar, Amit Singh, Ashok Menaria and Siddharth Trivedi are benefitting from the team environment with likes of Warne, Dravid, Botha, Shaun Tait and Ross Taylor to turn to for rectifying their loopholes in their game.

Warne and his side will be in mood to let the winning momentum drift away from them. Team management would keep reminding them the importance of momentum in this format of the game. Rajasthan will be aware of what their opponents on Friday Kolkata are capable of.

After having three torrid seasons, revamped Kolkata have had a good start to this edition losing first game and winning another despite the fact having some of the top players engaged with their international commitments.

They seem to be making all the right moves buying players who can deliver at the big stage and conduct of the players on the field suggests players are playing as a unit.

Jacques Kallis is doing what he does best scoring the runs at the top of order.

Youngsters are playing their part as well with Manoj Tiwary contributing with the bat and left arm spinner Iqbal Abdullah taking wickets and stemming the run flow while opening the bowling.

Big guns in skipper Gambhir and Yusuf Pathan are yet set world on fire and if they get their act together on Friday, Kolkata will fancy their chances against confident Rajasthan.

Bowling might be lacking in experience but have performed well in both the games with young bowlers impressing with their attitude and energy.

They have a good mentor in legendary Wasim Akram for guidance how to bowl at a big stage.

It will interesting what plans will be Warne and his bowlers having up their sleeve against strong batting lineup and how Rajasthan batsman approach against relatively inexperienced bowling unit of Kolkata.

RAJASTHAN

Players who can make impact…

Shaun Tait…After having retired from international cricket, fast bowler Shaun Tait looks very menacing and pacy.

He has already got a record to his name by bowling the fastest delivery on Indian pitches and has vowed to touch 160kph-mark.

Under Shane Warne’s captaincy, he seems to be enjoying his bowling and it appears have been told to bowl as fast as can.

Rahul Dravid…Not known for his batting in this format, champion batsman as he is, Dravid it seems to have made some adjustments to his game in order to up his strike rate.

He did show his class in the game against Delhi as he scoring at a good pelt without much of a fuss.

He would be someone who will be holding one end up and other batsmen will rally around him.

SQUAD

Aakash Chopra, Abhishek Raut, Aditya Dole, Ajinkya Rahane, Amit Paunikar (wk), 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

KOLKATA

Players who can make impact…

Ryan Ten Doeschate…A gifted all-rounder from Netherlands, RTD is the only player from any associate nation to have been picked by an IPL franchise.

He has been a globe- trotter in terms of playing this format giving him tones of experience.

He will be crucial to Kolkata as he can contribute both with the bat and ball and can save some runs in the field as well.

Iqbal Abdulla…coming from under-19 ranks, this young left arm spinner has impressed every game he plays.

He has been given the duties of opening the bowling and has done no harm to his reputation by claiming four wickets in two matches without giving many runs away.

This guy looks a player with lot of heart and potential to be one of the stars of the tournament.

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