On the slow and turning surface at Hyderabad, Kolkata and South Australia were blown away from whirlwind knocks from Rolf van Der Merwe and JJ Smuts losing their respective matches. South Australia didn’t reach anywhere near to Warrior’s target of 172 falling short by 50 runs and VD Merwe led power hitting made light work of Kolkata’s 165. Having lost their first match in the main draw of Champions League, the clash between the two sides on a batting friendly Bangalore turf becomes mighty important. A defeat to either side might well shut the door on their prospects of progressing deep into the tournament.
To be fair with Kolkata, the IPL side had a good outing with the bat with their ace all-rounder Jacques Kallis scoring a classic 74. Yusuf Pathan injected much needed impetus slamming four consecutive sixes on his way to 39 to surge total to 165. Much to the disappointment of team management, bowlers failed to restrict Somerset batsman as VD Merwe took most of them to the cleaners during the first ten overs of the chase. The spin attack and fast bowlers failed to make an impression on the spin friendly pitch to concede far too many runs.
To keep their hopes alive, Kolkata need runs from their fit again skipper Gautam Gambhir, who had a first ball duck in the first game, and same should be expected from Manoj Tiwary after throwing away good starts in the qualifiers. Kolkata’s strength lies in their middle order having big hitting Pathan, Ryan ten Doeschate and Shakib al Hasan. Pathan and Co. can dent any opposition if it’s their day. Kolkata would want a solid base from their top order to have the trio firing on all the cylinders.Things aren’t happening for the IPL side in the bowling and fielding. Generally, they have been sloppy on the field and bowlers have failed to contain opposition batters. Barring Brett Lee pacers haven’t been effective and young spin department have been good in patches. To get their first win in the main draw, Kolkata will to be good in all three departments of the game and cut down on silly mistakes.
The champions of Australian domestic twenty-20, South Australia lost their first game after suffering at the hands of JJ Smuts. South Australian bowlers simply weren’t good enough against Warriors with their spearhead Shaun Tait going for as many as 53 in his allotted four overs. The rest of the bowling pack also went for runs and their batsmen, save for skipper Michael Klinger, didn’t show enough fight against quality Warriors’ bowlers to have dash at the target.
Tait will have to lead the bowling pack to hit hard Kolkata with the new ball and tie down their gun players in the death overs. There is a case for all-rounder Daniel Christian to bat in the top order and Callum Ferguson needs to bring stability in the middle overs.
Having much to play for, Bangalore fans should brace themselves for a thrilling encounter. Tait versus Kallis at the top and Tait versus Pathan in the middle overs should be a treat to watch.
Kolkata Squad: Brad Haddin (wk), Brett Lee, Iqbal Abdulla, Jacques Kallis (c), Jaidev Unadkat, Lakshmipathy Balaji, Manoj Tiwary, Manvinder Bisla (wk), Rajat Bhatia, Ryan ten Doeschate, Shakib al Hasan, Shami Ahmed, Shreevats Goswami, Yusuf Pathan.
South Australia Squad: Aaron O'Brien, Adil Rashid, Callum Ferguson, Cameron Borgas, Chadd Sayers, Daniel Christian, Daniel Harris, Gary Putland, James Smith, Kane Richardson, Michael Klinger (c), Nathan Lyon, Shaun Tait, Tim Ludeman (wk), Tom Cooper.
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