Champions League CL T20 Preview: Kolkata Knight Riders Vs South Australian Redbacks
Kolkata Knight Riders take on South Australian Redbacks at Hyderabad, on Tuesday, September 27, in what promises to be an intriguing game in the Champions League.
This is a do-or-die battle in the offing, as both teams lost their respective first matches and are looking for a win to stay in contention for a place in the semi-finals.
While KKR lost a close game to Somerset Sabres, Redbacks were beaten by Warriors; Warriors having won both their first two matches, (the other win coming against Bangalore), are almost assured of a place in the knock out stage, and KKR and Redbacks will have to vie with Bangalore and Somerset for the other slot from Group B.
KKR have a good team with players who have good knowledge of sub-continental conditions, but they need to convert their potential to actual performances on the field. With match-winners like Gambhir, Kallis, Pathan and Lee, and all-rounders in the form of ten Deoschate and Shakib Hasan, KKR also have excellent support players like Iqbal and Manoj Tiwary. With a line-up like that, it’s surprising to see the squad underperforming the way they did, in the match against Somerset.
KKR will look to Kallis and Pathan to continue to get the runs and for players like Gambhir and Tiwary to strike form with the bat. They would also want their front-line bowlers to get tighter, and not leak runs as they did against Somerset. Because of the excessive runs given in the initial overs, KKR were unable to keep their rivals at bay, despite a late good showing by their bowlers.
In Hyderabad, the KKR spinners should find the playing conditions favourable, and Shakib, Abdullah, Pathan and Bhatia, the Kolkata outfit have the bowlers to trouble Redbacks’ vulnerability against spin. In their pace oriented attack, Redbacks also have spinners in Lyon and Rashid and both bowlers will want to put behind their forgettable overs against Warriors.
Redbacks got to the semi-finals in 2010, and to get to that stage again, the Australian outfit will have to improve vastly, with bat and ball alike, against KKR. In particular, they will look to skipper Klinger, Ferguson and Tait for match winning performances.
Kolkata Knight Riders’ probable eleven: Kallis, Bisla, Gambhir, Tiwary, Bhatia, Pathan,Ten Doeschate, Shakib, Lee, Abdulla,Balaji.
South Australian Redbacks’ probable eleven: Harris, Klinger, Cooper, Ferguson, Borgas, Christian, Ludeman, O’Brien, Rashid, Lyon, Tait
Category: Cricket
About the Author (Author Profile)
Jinxatious is the Chief Editor of SportingAttitude.com
An avid writer, on an eclectic range of subjects, he brings to bear editorial experience garnered with a national newspaper in South-East Asia. He also has sportscasting experience, as a cricket commentator, and his passion for sport extends beyond Cricket, to Football, Tennis, and Olympic Sports.
Subscribe
If you enjoyed this article, subscribe to receive more just like it.
