Chennai Super Kings versus Kolkata Knight Riders: IPL-4 Preview
Kolkata http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Knight-c71599 Riders (KKR) will take on Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in a very important match of the fourth season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) on Saturday at the Eden Gardens Kolkata.
This is a crucial fixture considering the fact that both the teams have done pretty well in the current edition of the league. KKR is currently at the second spot in the points table with 12 points from 10 matches, whereas the CSK have same number of points after nine games.
The track at Eden Gardens is very much suitable for stroke-play which automatically means that the team which bowls well on this batting track will turn out to be victorious.
None of the fast bowlers from KKR have been exceptional in the tournament, but they have performed quite well as a unit this season. The home team has a very balanced bowling attack which led by the speedster Brett Lee. He is ably supported in the fast bowling department by the likes of http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Jaidev-Unadkat-c1626, Lakshmipathy Balaji and Jacques Kallis.
Although, the KKR depend on their fast bowlers a lot but the pick of the bowlers for them has been the left-arm-spinner Iqbal Abdullah and he has been brilliantly supported by Yusuf Pathan with his part time off-spinners.
Abdullah has taken 12 wickets in the league so far with an outstanding average of 17.58 runs per wicket. On top of that, his economy rate is less than six and half runs per over which is excellent in the shortest format of the game. Young Abdullah is currently second on the highest wicket takers list this season behind Lasith Malinga.
On the other side of the coin, the CSK also have a balanced bowling lineup with the likes of Albie Morkel, Doug Bollinger, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Shadab-Jakati-c2475 and Suraj Randiv.
Morkel and Bollinger have done exceedingly well in the current season on the flat tracks of http://www.senore.com/Cricket/India-c750 which usually do not support the seam bowlers. Morkel has taken 12 wickets in the league so far and is amongst the top wicket takers this season.
CSK’s bowlers have a great advantage in shape of their captain http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Mahendra-Singh-Dhoni-c73820 who has been using them brilliantly this season.
Dhoni’s trump card is the off-spinner Ashwin who seems to be troubling even the best in the business. Whenever the Super Kings are in trouble, captain looks at Ashwin to give him the breakthroughs.
CSK have one of the best spin bowling lineups of the league as it is led by Ashwin who is followed by the left arm spinner Jakati and the Sri Lankan international off-spinner Randiv. All of them are seasoned campaigners and do not give much away to the opposition batsmen. It is a great advantage for any team to have as spinners play a vital role in the limited overs format of the game.
Both the teams are evenly matched and same is the case with their bowling lineups. Batsmen from both teams would be raring to make an impression at the Eden Gardens and the team which bowls well has a better chance of dismantling the opposition which means that the battle will be won by the better bowling lineup.
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