After facing a 27-run thrashing at the hands of Mumbai Indians at home on Saturday, the Kolkata Knight Riders is looking further for their next IPL match against defending champions, Chennai Super Kings, to be played at KKR’s home ground, Eden Gardens on Monday, May 14, 2012. Mumbai Indians’ No. 3 batsman, Rohit Sharma, shared a terrific 167-run second-wicket stand with opener Herschelle Gibbs as Mumbai broke KKR’s six-match winning streak with a convincing 27-run win at the Eden Gardens, Kolkata on Saturday evening. Sharma played a tremendous knock of 109 not out off just 60 balls, while Gibbs notched up an unbeaten half century to take the tourists to an intimidating total of 182 for 1 in their stipulated quota of 20 overs.
In reply, Jacques Kallis scored a 60-ball 79 while Yusuf Pathan returned unbeaten at a 31-ball 40, but that was not enough to take the Knight Riders home. The biggest positive for Gambhir in the 27-run loss was Yusuf Pathan’s innings. It was important for Yusuf Pathan to get some runs under his belt and need to play as a finisher as he has been doing this job for KKR in past. Their are also chances for Brendon McCullum’s return to the playing XI in Monday’s match as he should be ready for the next game. In the bowling Lee has been very consistent and his speed has rattled rival batsmen, while Narine has been the surprise packet with most batsmen unable to read him. Balaji has been steady while Shakib who has a couple of good games earlier, should find himself in the eleven.
Inconsistency has been the bane of the Chennai side, who have ben hovering between a superlative performance and pedestrians ones through the ongoing fifth edition of the cash-rich league. However, good showings in the previous couple of exchanges could do wonders to the morale of a team which has the most distinguished record in the tournament having finished champions twice and losing finalists once. CSK would be looking at good performances from their frontline batsmen – South African top scorer Faf du Plessis, provided he is fit after missing out two matches, and home spun heroes Dhoni and Suresh Raina besides West Indies all-rounder Dwayne Bravo. In bowling, Aussie pacer Ben Hilfenhaus comes into Monday’s game with back to back man of the match awards and would be a vital cog in the CSK attack.
Match Timings: May 13, 2012 (20:00 local | 14:30 GMT | 20:00 IST)
Teams:
Kolkata Knight Riders (probable):
Gautam Gambhir (c), Manvinder Bisla (wk), Jacques Kallis, Manoj Tiwary, Shakib Al Hasan, Yusuf Pathan, Debabrata Das, Laxmi Shukla, Rajat Bhatia, Brett Lee, Sunil Narine.
Chennai Super Kings (probable): Murali Vijay, Michael Hussey, Suresh Raina, MS Dhoni(w/c), Ravindra Jadeja, Dwayne Bravo, Albie Morkel, Srikkanth Anirudha, Ravichandran Ashwin, Shadab Jakati, Ben Hilfenhaus.
