Warriors look to seal semi-final spot (Preview)

After suffering two back to backs defeats, Kolkata kept their hopes of making it to the semi-finals by winning comprehensively against Bangalore. Courtesy one of their all time best performance with the bat, Kolkata were able to reach the target of 170 with fifteen balls to spare. Not only did they score their first win, the IPL side also gave themselves a good chance taking care of net run-rate by winning with a big margin.

Now the focus will shift on their final group game against very strong South African side Warriors. Buoyed by their victory against Bangalore, Kolkata would will back themselves to have better of Warriors as well. It wouldn’t be an easy task, though. For Kolkata to book a place in the top four, they will have to be dependent on performances of their group mates and keep themselves ahead on net run rate front that could well turn out to be a major factor in the final analysis.

Yet to be defeated, Warriors wouldn’t be bothered by Kolkata’s endeavors. The kind of form and players they have got, Warriors wouldn’t have anything less than a victory in their minds. One of the pre-tournament favourites, Warriors have done justice to the tag thus far sitting pretty on the top of group B table with a net run rate of +1.275.

The South African side has won first game chasing and second defending the target. It was Ashwell Prince’s sublime 74 who helped them to get across the target of 173 against Bangalore and his opening partner JJ Smuts came to the party against South Australia powering his side to a big total thanks to a brutal 88.

Warriors have men for all situations and positions. Smuts and Prince have a strong middle order in Colin Ingram, Johan Botha and experienced Mark Boucher to make their good starts count.

Bowling is their real strength. So much so Makhaya Ntini has failed to be part of the playing eleven. Skipper Botha himself and Nicky Boje are more than handy spinners in the bowling unit that has some quality pacers in Rusty Theron and Lonwabo Tsotsobe. If it is a South African side, fielding shouldn’t be a concern. Warriors are no different in that case.

With skipper Gautam Gambhir finding his touch, Brad Haddin adding muscle at the top of the order and Jacques Kallis as solid as ever, batting looks in the safe hands for Kolkata. Then, they have Yusuf Pathan for late order fireworks. Having said that, Kolkata have a lot of work to do in their bowling set up.Experienced Brett Lee hasn’t had a good tournament so far. He has been expensive both with the new ball and in the death overs. Others in the pack-most of them inexperienced- have failed to make an impression. For Kolkata to overpower Warriors, the IPL side must excel in all three facets of the game. Kolkata was very average in the field against Bangalore and they can’t afford same kind of sloppiness against their opponents on Saturday.

With both sides having some powerful batters in their ranks, it will be bowling performance that could have a huge impact on the game. Warriors can claim to have edge over Kolkata in that department.

Kolkata Squad: Brad Haddin (wk), Brett Lee, Iqbal Abdulla, Jacques Kallis (c), Jaidev Unadkat, Laxshmipathy Balaji, Manoj Tiwary, Manvinder Bisla (wk), Rajat Bhatia, Ryan ten Doeschate, Shakib al Hasan, Shami Ahmed, Shreevats Goswami, Yusuf Pathan.

Warriors Squad: Johan Botha (c), Nicky Boje, Mark Boucher (wk), Andrew Birch, Colin Ingram, Justin Kreusch, Lyall Meyer, Makhaya Ntini, Wayne Parnell, Ashwell Prince, Jon-Jon Smuts, Kelly Smuts, Rusty Theron, Craig Thyssen, Lonwabo Tsotsobe.