Preview: Pre-tournament favourites RCB start campaign against debutants Kochi Tuskers

Virat Kohli of Royal Challengers Bangalore in action

By Jamie Alter

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Kochi: Apr 9, 2011

 

Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) coach Ray Jennings believes his squad has what it takes to win the IPL, and his first challenge begins on Saturday against the latest addition to the league, Kochi Tuskers Kerala (KTK). His confidence is not misplaced by any means, for the resources added to RCB’s make-up indicate them to be pre-tournament favourites.

 

During the offseason, RCB underwent several changes and a new-look team will hope to get the Bangalore crowd which, along with Chennai Super Kings, has the most loyal fan base.

 

Anil Kumble has stepped aside and into a managerial role, and taking over the captaincy is New Zealand skipper Daniel Vettori who was bought down from Delhi. Gone are Ross Taylor, Jacques Kallis, Dale Steyn and Cameron White, and in their places are Tillakaratne Dilshan, AB de Villiers, Dirk Nannes and Vettori, a shrewd limited-overs bowler and tactician. Zaheer Khan also returns to the city where he started out in the IPL before being shifted to Mumbai.

 

RCB remain a very strong side, and the fact that Vettori, Nannes, Dilshan and de Villiers all played together for Delhi adds to the team’s potency. Unlike many other teams, this one won’t take as much time to gel, and in the instant-recipe format of T20, that is massive.

 

Virat Kohli was the only player Bangalore retained ahead of the auction, and Jennings has placed immense faith in the World Cup-winning batsman. Whether Kohli bats up the order instead of at the finisher’s spot in which he flourished during IPL 3 remains to be seen, but with Dilshan and de Villiers RCB and Saurabh Tiwary RCB have a formidable top order. The middle order is considerably flabby, however, with Mohammad Kaif and Karnataka’s Ranji Trophy wicketkeeper CM Gautam the likely candidates owing to the four overseas player rule.

 

The bowling looks in good health with Nannes and Zaheer sharing the new ball, Abhimanyu Mithun to follow and Vettori offering plenty of variety as a tweaker. Charl Langeveldt is another canny T20 operator, but looks likely to stay on the bench for this match. With former South African all-rounder Johan van der Wath in the reserves, along with Sri Lanka’s speedster Nuwan Pradeep, RCB have plenty of bowling depth.

 

All this makes for tough competition for debutants KTK, under the leadership of Mahela Jayawardene. Apart from Parthiv Patel, a handy T20 batsman, KTK appear thin on domestic talent. VVS Laxman may be a magician with bat in hand in Test cricket, but over three seasons of the IPL he has failed to inspire. This format just does not suit Laxman and thus much pressure is placed on Jayawardene and Brendon McCullum, he of the 73-ball 158 in the first IPL match ever. McCullum’s World Cup form on Indian pitches was shaky, but this is T20 and McCullum has proven himself in this format. Such is his hitting ability that 40 deliveries can make a huge dent on the opposition’s chances. Brad Hodge, the most successful T20 batsman ever, and discarded England batsman Owais Shah offer class to the line-up as well.

 

Lower down, the Sri Lankan all-rounder Thisara Perera is a bonus for KTK. He didn’t get much hitting time during Sri Lanka’s run to the World Cup final but Perera has what it takes to be an instant hit in the IPL, with bat and ball. His nippy medium-pacers have done the job at international level and his cameos down the order can be devastating.

 

KTK’s bowling revolves around Muttiah Muralitharan, who enjoyed success over three seasons in Chennai, and Sreesanth, whose role is also to giddy up Kerala’s fans. Backing them up are RP Singh, whose India career has nosedived, and R Vinay Kumar. Ravindra Jadeja, too, has fallen off the radar but a strong IPL can put him back in the reckoning. The wealth of experience Ramesh Powar brings is also very handy for a fledgling side.

 

Teams:

 

Kochi Tuskers Kerala (Probable): Brendon McCullum, Parthiv Patel (wk), Brad Hodge/Owais Shah, Mahela Jayawardene (c), VVS Laxman, Ravindra Jadeja, Thisara Perera, Ramesh Powar, R Vinay Kumar, RP Singh, Muttiah Muralitharan.

 

Royal Challengers Bangalore (Probable): Tillakaratne Dilshan, AB de Villiers,  Saurabh Tiwary, Virat Kohli, Mohammad Kaif, CM Gautam (wk), Daniel Vettori (c),  Zaheer Khan, Abhimanyu Mithin, Dirk Nannes, Ryan Ninan.

 

Time: 20.00 local (14.30 GMT)

 

(Jamie Alter is a freelance cricket writer, having worked at ESPNcricinfo and All Sports Magazine. His first book, The History of World Cup Cricket, is out now. His twitter feed is @jamie_alter) 

 

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