The last time these two teams met, was at the Eden Gardens and Kochi won by a narrow 6-run margin. It might inspire them to a certain extent today but Kolkata have come a long way since then. They are now second on the points table, with six victories in nine games. Gautam Gambhir’s men make a formidable outfit now and would look to gain momentum by making it 1-1 in the head-to-head against Kochi, whose home record is worth mocking.
Kochi earned a much-needed win against Delhi in Delhi a few days back. Kochi’s strength is their bowling and it stepped up on a nippy Feroz Shah Kotla track. Prashant Parameswaran is their new find and has a bright future ahead of him. The pacer though has to produce a similar kind of performance against an unforgiving KKR batting line-up. Sreesanth will also have a key role to play, having one of the best economy rates in the IPL so far. RP Singh, R Vinay Kumar and Ravindra Jadeja make Kochi a team which cannot be written off.
The batting however could prove to be the difference between KTK winning or losing tonight. Brendon McCullum and Brad Hodge would be motivated to play big tonight against their former team. While the promising South Australian captain Michael Klinger would want to make a name for himself in the IPL, with a match-winning innings. Mahela Jayawardene, the skipper too would want to get amongst the runs after faltering despite getting starts.
On the other hand, Kolkata are well-settled. It is a no-brainer to see Eoin Morgan and Jacques Kallis open the batting. Kallis’ steadfastness will hold key tonight for the rest to play well, yet again. Gautam Gambhir does not seem far away from one big innings, like he played against Rajasthan Royals in Jaipur earlier in the tournament. Manoj Tiwary is in the form of his life for sure, and he is becoming Kolkata’s Mr.Dependable as his consistency has won him many fans. Yusuf Pathan’s lusty blows can demoralize Kochi easily.
The bowling too has been outstanding so much so that in the last game against Deccan Chargers, Jaidev Unadkat was just fielding. Yusuf has picked 9 wickets in the tournament so far, which means that Gambhir can rely on him to bowl 4 overs to perhaps stop the explosive Kochi batsmen from scoring. The young Mumbai spinner Iqbal Abdulla has 12 wickets to his name, making him the second highest wicket-taker in this year’s IPL. Rajat Bhatia has come off age with his medium pace bowling. While Brett Lee, Lakshmipathy Balaji and Unadkat make a strong bowling line-up.
Both the teams are likely to retain the same XIs as their last game but the intriguing battles would be Brett Lee vs. Brendon McCullum since Lee would look to hit back at McCullum, who won the first round at Eden Gardens by hitting 15 runs in his one over. Then Yusuf Pathan vs. Ravindra Jadeja since both of them played for Rajasthan Royals in the past and both are all-rounders. These personal battles also hold the key in winning.
Kochi earned a much-needed win against Delhi in Delhi a few days back. Kochi’s strength is their bowling and it stepped up on a nippy Feroz Shah Kotla track. Prashant Parameswaran is their new find and has a bright future ahead of him. The pacer though has to produce a similar kind of performance against an unforgiving KKR batting line-up. Sreesanth will also have a key role to play, having one of the best economy rates in the IPL so far. RP Singh, R Vinay Kumar and Ravindra Jadeja make Kochi a team which cannot be written off.
The batting however could prove to be the difference between KTK winning or losing tonight. Brendon McCullum and Brad Hodge would be motivated to play big tonight against their former team. While the promising South Australian captain Michael Klinger would want to make a name for himself in the IPL, with a match-winning innings. Mahela Jayawardene, the skipper too would want to get amongst the runs after faltering despite getting starts.
On the other hand, Kolkata are well-settled. It is a no-brainer to see Eoin Morgan and Jacques Kallis open the batting. Kallis’ steadfastness will hold key tonight for the rest to play well, yet again. Gautam Gambhir does not seem far away from one big innings, like he played against Rajasthan Royals in Jaipur earlier in the tournament. Manoj Tiwary is in the form of his life for sure, and he is becoming Kolkata’s Mr.Dependable as his consistency has won him many fans. Yusuf Pathan’s lusty blows can demoralize Kochi easily.
The bowling too has been outstanding so much so that in the last game against Deccan Chargers, Jaidev Unadkat was just fielding. Yusuf has picked 9 wickets in the tournament so far, which means that Gambhir can rely on him to bowl 4 overs to perhaps stop the explosive Kochi batsmen from scoring. The young Mumbai spinner Iqbal Abdulla has 12 wickets to his name, making him the second highest wicket-taker in this year’s IPL. Rajat Bhatia has come off age with his medium pace bowling. While Brett Lee, Lakshmipathy Balaji and Unadkat make a strong bowling line-up.
Both the teams are likely to retain the same XIs as their last game but the intriguing battles would be Brett Lee vs. Brendon McCullum since Lee would look to hit back at McCullum, who won the first round at Eden Gardens by hitting 15 runs in his one over. Then Yusuf Pathan vs. Ravindra Jadeja since both of them played for Rajasthan Royals in the past and both are all-rounders. These personal battles also hold the key in winning.
