MATCH: Royal Challengers Bangalore v Kolkata Knight Riders
DATE: Thursday, September 29, 2011
TIME: 2000 hours IST (1430 hours GMT)
VENUE: M Chinnaswamy in Bangalore
Royal Challengers Bangalore and Kolkata Knight Riders will look to register their first win in the competition when they play each other in the 10th game of the Champions League T20 this season.
Past Record:
Kolkata, with two losses from two games, are almost out of the tournament. They lost their opener to Somerset – whom they had lost to in the qualifiers as well – and then went on to be routed by the South Australian Redbacks.
Royal Challengers had played the opening game of the tournament which they lost to the Warriors. Since then, they have had a week-long break and may have to restart their campaign to bring the title home.
Side-effect:
Kolkata (11/8 at
Stan James) are almost out of the tournament; they need to win both their remaining games and pray for many of the other results in their group to go their way. Last year, there were three sides in one of the two groups who had tied for the second spot with two wins but the probability of qualifying with only two victories is quite low. In short, if they lose this one, they will be definitely out of the tournament.
Bangalore (4/6 at
Totesport) went down to the Warriors in the first one and would hope to win this one or run the risk of going Bangalore’s way. And that can hardly be good news for the organisers, who got in a fourth IPL side to ensure that the crowds’ interest-level remains sustained.
Team News:
The big news for the Royal Challengers Bangalore is that they have lost the services of their wicket-keeper batsman, AB de Villiers to an injury. He has been ruled out for the rest of the tournament. This would come as a big blow to the side, but the good news would be that in Tillakaratne Dilshan, they have a like-for-like replacement – he can also keep wickets if pushed.
The rest of the side may remain the same, although there could be a shuffle in the batting order. With Dilshan coming into the side, Mayank Agarwal could be pushed down the order or probably even replaced by someone like Asad Pathan, who can bowl a few overs as well.
Kolkata will look to make a change or two. Their bowling has been a struggle in the tournament so far, but unfortunately for them, the only guy who can come in to replace L Balaji or Jaidev Unadkat is a relatively unknown domestic player, Shami Ahmed. It may not be such a bad idea to throw him into the deep end given how desperate they would be for the win.
Who is hot?
Ryan ten Doeschate (10/1 at
Stan James) is the player again and at the expense of being repetitive, it is a surprise that he does not bat higher in the order. He seems to have all the shots in the book for sure. And if they do go in with a bowler short, ten Doeschate can bowl too – something that he hasn’t done this tournament. Bangalore will look to Chris Gayle (11/4 at
Paddy Power) for inspiration at the top of the innings.
Prediction:
The Bangalore track has shown a dual nature – it has allowed batsmen to make merry in one game and in another, it has been a low-scoring encounter. On a good, flat pitch, Bangalore should be favourites to win the game.
