Kolkata Knight Riders seem to have surprised everyone with their two successive wins in the tournament, but will know that the task is far from complete.

The Shah rukh Khan-owned Knight Riders have had to endure a couple of seasons of disgrace as they finished at the sixth and the eight positions respectively in the first two editions of the tournament. For this edition, Sourav Ganguly was reinstated as the captain of the side, and Dav Whatmore was signed up as the coach, in place of John Buchanan. Wasim Akram has been appointed as the bowling consultant for the entire duration of the tournament.

In the first game of this year’s IPL, the Knight Riders began badly against the Deccan Chargers by losing two wickets in the very first over of the first match they played for no score. But, in Angelo Mathews they seem to have found a gem, as he smacked a half century in the game, and followed it up with a four wicket haul in the second game against the Royal Challengers Bangalore.

This has translated into the Knight Riders leapfrogging some of their competitors and becoming the second favourites team to clinch the tournament; 5/1 at Sky Bet. And in the absence of Chris Gayle, who will join the side in their next game, and Brendon McCullum, who is still in New Zealand, featuring in a Test series against Australia, Brad Hodge (9/4 at Stan James) is the favourite to top-score for the Knight Riders in the tournament.

In the overall scheme of things, rather surprisingly, Chris Gayle (20/1 at William Hill) is the 10th favourite in the tournament – despite having yet to play a game – to emerge as the highest scorer in this year’s edition.

Delhi Daredevils are still favourites to win the tournament – 4/1 at Sky Bet – and with a batting line-up as strong as theirs, it is barely a surprise.