MATCH: Kolkata Knight Riders v Auckland Aces
DATE: Monday, September 19, 2011
TIME: 2000 hours IST (1430 hours GMT)
VENUE: Uppal in Hyderabad
The night match on the opening day of the Champions League T20 2011 will be played between the fourth Indian representation in the tournament, Kolkata Knight Riders and New Zealand’s only team Auckland Aces.
Past Record:
Neither side has qualified for the Champions League T20 before, with New Zealand having had representation from Otago and Central Stags before this, while the Knight Riders having never got themselves even a semi-finals berth in the IPL.
Auckland (15/8 at
BetFred) qualified for the Champions League T20 playoffs, with a narrow win over the Central Districts in the final of the HRV T20 Cup in New Zealand. They had a few narrow escapes before getting into their own towards the latter half of the tournament and eked out a four-run victory over the Stags.
Kolkata Knight Riders (4/9 at
SportingBet) made it through to their first ever top-four finish in the IPL this year under a new captain, Gautam Gambhir. They failed to beat Mumbai Indians in an eliminator and finished fourth, thus getting the chance to enter these playoffs. If they qualify for the Champions League T20, they will become the fourth side from the IPL to do so this year.
Team News:
The Aces will be captained by Gareth Hopkins and have a plethora of both, the international stars and T20 specialists. Andre Adams, Martin Guptill, Chris Martin, Kyle Mills and Daryl Tuffey have all played for the Black Caps before while Jimmy Adams, Robert Quiney and Lou Vincent like this format of the game.
On the other hand, the Knight Riders will be without their captain Gambhir, who has yet to recover from the concussion he suffered in England. If the team qualifies for the main tournament, he may look to make a comeback but for now, he misses out. So does Eoin Morgan (injury) and Brad Haddin (international committments)
Jacques Kallis (2/1 at
BetFred) will lead the side while home-boy Manoj Tiwary will provide crucial support in the middle-order.
Who is hot?
Hampshire’s Jimmy Adams will be the man for the visitors, after having had a lot of experience playing for both, the Aces and his home side, Hampshire. In fact, he had had a decent season for Hampshire, scoring 319 runs for the side.
Kolkata will hope for Yusuf Pathan (11/2 at
BetFred) to live up to his words and fire all cylinders given the lack of batting fire-power otherwise for the Knight Riders in the middle of the innings.
Prediction:
Kolkata should win this easy for three basic reasons; man to man, they have a superior pedigree of players, their opponents do not have the slow-bowling prowess to test the Knight Riders and they will have the crowd support going for them.
