Three days after facing a narrow 2-run defeat at the hands of Kings XI Punjab in a nail-biting IPL encounter at home ground Eden Gardens, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/G-Gambhir-c1447’s Kolkata Knight Riders have been given another chance to avenge the narrow defeat, this time in Mohali
on Wednesday, April 18, 2012.
Relishing on the psychological boost from the 2-run win, Adam Gilchrist-led Kings XI Punjab will be looking forward to overcome their opponents once again in Mohali, while the Knight Riders will be desperate to level the scores with a thumping win in the
return leg.
During Sunday’s match, Kings XI Punjab’s batting was exposed by KKR spinner Sunil Narine and the side would have to do some homework to counter the West Indian at home. Adam Gilchrist and http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Mandeep-Singh-c74122 will continue opening the innings with Shaun Marsh complementing
them at No. 3, while David Hussey, Paras Dogra and http://www.senore.com/Cricket/AD-Mascarenhas-c912 will take the middle-order spots.
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Delhi-c780 pacer, if gets
a call back, will share new ball with http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Harmeet-Singh-c1533 and Mascarenhas will fill in the spots for the other two seamers, while Piyush Chawla will be the only specialist spinner on
Punjab’s roster.
The King Khan-owned Kolkata Knight Riders have a formidable bunch on paper, but the outfit failed to execute much of its formidability on field, losing three of the five matches they have played so far this season.
In their previous game, Knight Riders returned to their old losing ways with batting being a major let down for them. Their middle-order seems to be more fragile with Shakib Al Hasan, Yusuf Pathan and Ryan ten Doeschate all struggling with the bat.
The KKR coach and captain both have hinted at drastic changes going into Wednesday’s game. Whilst South African all-rounder Jacques Kallis will continue opening with skipper Gambhir, either http://www.senore.com/Cricket/BB-McCullum-c1129 is likely to be called into the
side to strengthen the fragile middle-order, in which case Shakib Al http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Hasan-c61990 or ten Doeschate would have to make the sidelines.
However, a word of backing from coach http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Trevor-Harley-Bayliss-c94335 makes Yusuf Pathan’s spot a bit secured, but for Wednesday’s game only and Pathan needs to score runs to shun the uncertain clouds.
"He's a match-winner. He can turn a match in a blink of an eye. We are showing confidence in him. He's got the full support of everyone in the team,” said the KKR coach on Yusuf Pathan at the post match press conference. “Everyone knows what a devastating
player he can be. It's only a matter of time before he wins us that game," Bayliss added further.
Kolkata’s bowling was exceptional once again, with Sunil Narine leading the attack. Laxmipathy Balaji, if recovered completely from the groin injury, is likely to take back his spot from Jaydev Unadkat. Going by Mohali’s seamer friendly conditions, Brett
Lee is also expected to be called into the side.
Both the outfits will find Mohali deck playing vastly different from the one they had played on Sunday. The slow Eden Gardens wicket offers much assistance to spinners while the last match played at PCA Stadium saw the pitch bear plenty of grass. So seamers
can expect some assistance from the Mohali pitch, come Wednesday night.
Probable XIs
Kings XI Punjab: 1 http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Piyush-c82317 Chawla, 9 Praveen Kumar, 10 Harmeet Singh, 11 Bhargav Bhatt
Kolkata Knight Riders: 1 http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Sunil-Philip-Narine-c91869, 11 Laxmipathy Balaji
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