The Indian Premier League is finally here! And the first game in this edition of the IPL will be played between the Deccan Chargers and the Kolkata Knight Riders at the Dr. DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai. The game will immediately follow the opening ceremony tomorrow.

Deccan Chargers are the defending champions of the tournament, whereas their opponents, the Kolkata Knight Riders had ended the last edition at the bottom of the league. That is the one reason why the Chargers will go into the game as favourites, Blue Square offering 8/13 for their win, as compared to 7/5 at Sporting Bet for the Knight Riders to start on a more positive note than they had ended the last tournament on!

The Knight Riders will miss out on the services of two of their best top-order batsmen, Chris Gayle and Brendon McCullum, both of whom are currently involved in their international engagements. This has allowed Brad Hodge (10/3 at Stan James to top-score for his side) a chance to open the innings, something that he could well do with the Knight Riders’ captain, Sourav Ganguly (4/1 at Boylesports to be the best batsman for Kolkata).

It is, however, the middle order that will be tested since, it has often been proved to be a tad brittle in the past. The one batsman from India, with an appetite for runs of an elephant, is Cheteshwar Pujara (7/1 at 888Sport to top-score for the Knight Riders) and his presence could help the Knight Riders in their quest for glory. At least in the first game!

The Chargers’ biggest strength is lies in their batting. And why wouldn’t that be the case given the presence of the explosive Adam Gilchrist (3/1 at Sky Bet to top-score for the Chargers) at the top of the order and an equally dynamite-like Andrew Symonds (5/1 at Boylesports to be Chargers’ best batsman) in the middle. The biggest plus going for both these batsmen is that they no longer feature in international cricket and hence do not carry too much baggage with them. Interspersed between these two stalwarts of the game, is Rohit Sharma (5/1 at Sky Bet to top-score for his side), who would like to use the platform of the IPL to claw back into the Indian side, much like many of his other Indian team-mates like Suresh Raina and Ashish Nehra.

Herschelle Gibbs (4/1 at Blue Square to top-score for Deccan Chargers) had been afforded a rather longer rope in the previous edition of the tournament, and he had come good in the finals against the Royal Challengers Bangalore. Wonder if he can continue that rich vein of form – albeit an year apart!

Tips:
Favourites: Kolkata Knight Riders (7/5 at Sporting Bet)
Top Kolkata batsman: Cheteshwar Pujara (7/1 at 888Sport)
Top Deccan batsman: Herschelle Gibbs (4/1 at Blue Square)