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Clash of two beleaguered sides

S. Sabanayakan

Royal Challengers Bangalore can’t afford any more slip-ups

— Photo: Sushanta Patronobish

KEY MAN: Though rested for Thursday’s match, Shoaib Akhtar will have a big role to play if Kolkata Knight Riders is to advance to the semifinals.

KOLKATA: Things have not gone the way either Kolkata Knight Riders or its next round adversary Royal Challengers Bangalore would have desired. The inaugural DLF-Indian Premier League Twenty20 tournament thus far has been nothing short of a disaster for the two captains Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid.

Placed among the bottom four of the eight sides in the fray, Knight Riders is better placed — at fifth — and Royal Challengers is languishing at the bottom (as on May 7). There are many things in common for the two beleaguered sides. After initial successes, Knight Riders slipped to four consecutive defeats while Royal Challengers failed as a team tasting five defeats, out of which four have come at home.

Problem area

The major area of concern for both teams is the failure of their respective batsmen to put enough runs on the board. After the first-match flourish in which Knight Riders’ Brendon McCullum played a superlative innings, the Kolkata outfit has been struggling to come up with consistent scores to put the opposition under stress.

Ganguly has been under pressure to perform. But for a half-century, he has little to show in terms of runs. Coach John Buchanan felt that the early loss of wickets during Power Play overs did not help the team’s cause. The team has been experimenting with different opening combinations in practice sessions and it will not be a surprise if Knight Riders comes up with a new opening pair on Thursday.

The home side did not name Shoaib Akhtar in the 14-member team giving the Pakistani time to regain full fitness ahead of some tough matches. The list has five foreigners including Zimbabwean Tatenda Taibu. Another surprising name that figures in the list is that of Delhi opener Aakash Chopra, a known talent in the longer version of the game than in this format.

Royal Challengers, in danger of missing out on a semifinal spot, cannot afford to lose another match. The team’s failure to come up with a winning combination itself is glaring.

Add to it the team’s over dependence on Jacques Kallis to deliver. The South African’s poor run with the bat and ball has come in the way of the team doing well.

India under-19 captain Virat Kohli’s promotion with moderate success should augur well for the team especially in the absence of the injured Wasim Jaffer.

With Zaheer Khan, Dale Steyn and Praveen Kumar doing well with the ball, it is time for the batsmen to fire.

The teams (from): Royal Challengers Bangalore: Rahul Dravid (captain), J. Arun Kumar, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Virat Kohli, Jacques Kallis, Misbah-ul-Haq, Mark Boucher (wk), Cameron White, Devraj Patil, Praveen Kumar, Zaheer Khan, Anil Kumble, Dale Steyn, Bharath Chipli, R. Vinay Kumar and Sunil Joshi.

Kolkata Knight Riders: Sourav Ganguly (captain), Aakash Chopra, Salman Butt, Brad Hodge, David Hussey, Laxmi Ratan Shukla, Tatenda Taibu, Debabrata Das, Ajit Agarkar, Ashok Dinda, Ishant Sharma, Umar Gul, Murali Kartik and Wriddhiman Saha.

Match starts at 8 p.m.

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