Kolkata Knight Riders and Rajasthan Royals
KKR, defending champions, have had a topsy-turvy season so far. They won the season opener before losing their second match. They were back to winning ways in the following two matches, before losing their most-recent match – a rain-affected encounter against Sunrisers Hyderabad. The team, led by Gautam Gambhir, will be concerned by their most-recent performance when they failed to separate the SRH opening pair and allowed them to amass 130 runs on the board. The team’s premier spinner – Sunil Narine - has been reported for suspect action, and while he can continue to bowl, the spotlight will be on him; the Trinidadian, who had his action cleared prior to the season, has not had it easy so far – picking up only two wickets in five matches and conceding runs at an economy rate of 7.35 – and his task will become that much more difficult with the scrutiny on his action.
The opening pair of Gautam Gambhir and Robin Uthappa have been the cornerstone of many a KKR victories. Either or both of the openers have generally batted into the second half of the innings, allowing the stroke-makers to flourish at the other end. The team will look to apply that formula yet again. In matches at the Eden Gardens, KKR have relied heavily on their spinners, but they may have to look at other alternatives now. Morne Morkel and Umesh Yadav are the team’s top two wicket-takers and they will be expected to bear much more load in the absence of Shakib-al-Hasan and in the circumstance Sunil Narine is faced with.
The Rajasthan Royals raced away to ten points before their bandwagon was stopped in the Super Over against Kings XI Punjab. In their most recent outing, they struggled to cope with a sluggish surface in Ahmedabad and were at the receiving end of a clinical performance from Royal Challengers Bangalore. There is no denying that conditions made life difficult for batsmen on that occasion, but one would have liked to see better application from the batsmen and that is exactly what would have been spoken in the RR dressing room.
The Rajasthan Royals too have rode on the performance of their opening pair. Ajinkya Rahane is in the zone many batsmen can only dream of; the Mumbai batsman is testimony to the fact that there is room even for purists in T20 cricket. The 26-year old plays cricket the conventional way, driving the ball along the ground, finding the gaps, rotating the strike over frequently, waiting for the bowler to make a mistake and on the very rare occasion sending the ball over the boundary. He has put a huge price on his wicket and makes bowlers work hard to earn his wicket.
The opening pair of Gautam Gambhir and Robin Uthappa have been the cornerstone of many a KKR victories. Either or both of the openers have generally batted into the second half of the innings, allowing the stroke-makers to flourish at the other end. The team will look to apply that formula yet again. In matches at the Eden Gardens, KKR have relied heavily on their spinners, but they may have to look at other alternatives now. Morne Morkel and Umesh Yadav are the team’s top two wicket-takers and they will be expected to bear much more load in the absence of Shakib-al-Hasan and in the circumstance Sunil Narine is faced with.
The Rajasthan Royals raced away to ten points before their bandwagon was stopped in the Super Over against Kings XI Punjab. In their most recent outing, they struggled to cope with a sluggish surface in Ahmedabad and were at the receiving end of a clinical performance from Royal Challengers Bangalore. There is no denying that conditions made life difficult for batsmen on that occasion, but one would have liked to see better application from the batsmen and that is exactly what would have been spoken in the RR dressing room.
The Rajasthan Royals too have rode on the performance of their opening pair. Ajinkya Rahane is in the zone many batsmen can only dream of; the Mumbai batsman is testimony to the fact that there is room even for purists in T20 cricket. The 26-year old plays cricket the conventional way, driving the ball along the ground, finding the gaps, rotating the strike over frequently, waiting for the bowler to make a mistake and on the very rare occasion sending the ball over the boundary. He has put a huge price on his wicket and makes bowlers work hard to earn his wicket.