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Knight Riders to replace Hafeez with Taibu

Our starts withball and bat have been the areasthat we havediscussed, writesJohn Buchanan

— Photo: Sushanta Patronobish

READY TO TAKE STRIKE: Tatenda Taibu, seen with Salman Butt (left), is all set to play his first match in the IPL against Royal Challengers Bangalore on Thursday.

We have played four successive matches for four losses, the last three being Mumbai Indians at home, Rajasthan Royals (away), and Kings XI (away) — certainly not what we wanted at this point of the season, nor, I am sure, the fans, our sponsors and all followers of the Knight Riders.

Throughout this period, there have been some very encouraging individual performances. Deb Das on debut against Mumbai; Umar Gul’s inclusion has given a degree of penetration and steadiness to the attack; David Hussey’s all-round performance in Mohali; Wriddhiman ‘Popps’ Saha’s keeping and batting display with Hussey against the King’s XI; Laxmi Shukla’s rescue batting missions on two occasions; some exceptional fast bowling from Ishant Sharma; and the continued improvement of Ashok Dinda.

Our starts with ball and bat have been the areas that we have discussed. I believe we are learning a lot about ourselves, a lot more about the 20-over game and about all the people within the franchise.

We have a wonderful group of people, right from the top, Shah Rukh Khan, and throughout the whole Knight Riders team. The results in recent games suggest the competition is beginning to take shape.

With Deccan’s win over Chennai Super Kings on Tuesday night, Mumbai over Delhi, the Chennai Super Kings losing three games on the trot plus the ongoing successes of Kings XI and Rajasthan Royals, it appears that Royals, the Kings XI and probably Delhi Daredevils will more than likely occupy the top three positions.

That leaves a battle for the fourth spot between Super Kings, Knight Riders, Deccan Chargers with, I think, Mumbai and Bangalore outsiders, yet both these latter teams are capable of gaining plenty of upset wins.

Fourth position could be decided by Net Run Rate, so the NRR achieved will be an interesting sidelight of the next couple of weeks.

Shoaib’s arrival

Knight Riders has welcomed the long-awaited arrival of Shoaib this week. He is very keen to get a game. With various off-field distractions for the past month, he has had precious little time or opportunity to do what he does best, and that is to prepare to, and then, bowl rapidly.

While there is a great temptation to rush a player of Shoaib’s calibre into a team that at the moment is not producing results, possible short-term gain will not be the driver of our selection processes.

Shoaib needs the appropriate time to be ready to play. He knows that, as well as we do, exactly how long it will take will be closely monitored by team physio Andrew Leipus and team trainer Adrian le Roux.

We have made one change to the squad that played in Mohali, with Tatenda Taibu replacing Mohammed Hafeez, and we have added Aakash Chopra.

(Gameplan)

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