Under-achievers take on defending champions in IPL openers (Preview)

Time for some t-20 flavor

1st Match

IP CHENNAI versus IP KOLKATA

Venue: MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chepauk, Chennai

Start Time: 20:00 (IST)

India captain MS Dhoni combined with his teammate Gautam Gambhir for the fourth wicket to fashion out a historic win for India in the world cup final, 2011. During the course of partnership both were egging each other for a common goal-to win the trophy for the country.

They have may shared the Indian dressing many a times in the past bringing countless glories to the country and will be doing the same in years to come, but, for the moment, all that will be forgotten as both will be doing everything to overpower each other come Friday. It is time to have the men who share the same dressing room for their countries to pitch them against each other.

Welcome to the IPL, 2011! The fourth edition of BCCI organized t-20league gets underway on Friday with Chennai taking on Kolkata at MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai former’s home ground.

After an unprecedented frenzy and excitement during 42 days of world cup that culminated with India winning the tournament, India fans are all set to have flavor of slam bang form of cricket in their own avtaar. IPL is India’s own brand, full of riches. The riches of IPL have lured many a cricketers to be part of it and fans round the world needed no second invitation making their way to stadiums and millions watching infront of TV sets.

With first three seasons of the league having a blockbuster success, the fourth one is expected not to be different. There are some ‘firsts’ in the coming league though. For the first time, there will ten teams fighting it out with each other for the title as Pune and Kochi teams have been added this time around.

This season will also see new combinations in the teams as players had to go through grind of auction and, barring few, most of the players haven’t been retained by their old franchises.

Fatigue is what administrators and players will have to guard against if they want another mega season. After playing in world cup, most of the players will be feeling the heat as far as non-stop cricket is concerned while having watched thrilling cricket for almost one and a half month, fatigue factor might also come into play in the minds of fans.

However, history tells that Indian fans literally eat, drink and sleep cricket and with fans all jubilant after India lifted the cup, them coming into the stadiums will not be problem.

Come Friday, India and fans round the world will be ready for another cricketing show piece. Of different nature, though.

Chennai

No matter what pool of players defending champions Chennai have, they will be also bracketed as one of the favourites to lift the title this time around as well. The man in charge of the team is none other than wonder boy and captain cool, MS Dhoni and his leadership gives the team a lift and calming influence not seen in most of the captains in the IPL.

What will work in Chennai’s advantage in the tournament is the fact that the nucleus of players-Dhoni, Murali Vijay, Bollinger, Raina, Badrinath, Morkel, Ashwin and many others-that played in first three seasons are very much there, a luxury rest of the franchises don’t have.

Chennai doesn’t boast off a huge number of superstars but a bunch of players with strong works ethics, always ready to give their 100% on the field.

They have everything in the side, stroke makers who can drop anchor when required, fast bowlers capable of delivering goods at any stage of the game, spinners well suited for this format of the game and some decent all-rounders who can the course of the game on their own head.

The local talent is what makes this team very dangerous and with players like Badrinath, Joginder Sharma and Murali Vijay in Chennai ranks coupled with some top class international recruits, Dhoni-led Chennai is expected to go deep into the tournament.

Players who can make impact…

Albie Morkel….After being dumped out of fifteen-member South African squad that participated in world cup, big hitting all-rounder would want to make a statement by his performances with both bat and ball and tell the selectors that what they missed.

R Ashwin….he was the focal point of so many cricket pundits during the world cup as many felt he should have played all the games, yet he was overlooked for the semis and big final after some decent performances. His action and variations are as if made for t-2o cricket. He will be more than handful and is expected to take wickets and stem run flow.

SQUAD

Albie Morkel, Ben Hilfenhaus, Doug Bollinger, Dwayne Bravo, Faf du Plessis, George Bailey, Joginder Sharma ,Michael Hussey, MS Dhoni (c)(wk), Murali Vijay, Nuwan Kulasekra, R Ashwin, S Badrinath, Scott Styris, Shadab Jakati,Srikkanth Anirudha, Sudeep Tyagi, Suraj Randiv, Suresh Raina, Tim Southee, Wriddhiman Saha, Yo Mahesh.

Kolkata

Underachievers in first three seasons, Kolkata squad has gone wholesale changes, so much so, son of the soil and former Indian captain Sourav Ganguly wasn’t bought during the auction.

Team management has made it clear that there will be no emotions and franchise is very much keen to forget the past performances and make a mark in this edition.

With no Sourav there, Gambhir, one of the highest paid cricketers in the League, will be leading the side and this will come as an acid test for someone who was playing for IP Delhi in the first three editions.

The thing that will be at top of his agenda will be to put a right combination together as, in past, team Kolkata has been guilty of fiddling with their playing eleven too much.

Administrators have spent money judiciously and have gone with the players that give both solidity and punch to the side.

With Australia touring Bangladesh, fast bowler Bret Lee’s services will be missed in the initial stages that would mean Balaji, Kallis and youngsters like Sangwan will have to bear the brunt of fast bowling.

Batting line-up has depth, power and explosiveness to derail any bowling line-up in the tournament as it possesses a decent mixture of youth and experience.

Players who can make impact…

Yusuf Pathan: He didn’t have a good world cup outing and wasn’t considered for knockout stages in the playing eleven. He will be keen to blaze his way into the field again as he is made for this format. IPL is where his powerhouse batting was recognized and he would like to enhance his reputation and pay back to the team owners who spend ten crores to have him in the team by performing at the big stages.

Eoin Morgan: Arguably England’s best limited overs player, Morgan will be keen to show Indian and Kolkata fans, in particular, that he has lot to offer to the franchise with unusual technique of his. He can play both conventional and reverse sweep without giving much away and upset bowling being busy at the crease.

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