Ground Reality: Most of the matches played here have seen an even contest between bat and ball, and more of the same is expected today. With light winds, and sunny weather forecasted, the day should be fine for cricket.
The Teams: It seems like an unequal battle on the face of it, with one team looking formidable, and the other looking forlorn. This will be the first meeting between the teams, since their previous match was rained out.
Kolkata Knight Riders: They must now be firmly convinced that they are cursed or that someone has put a spell on them. No matter what they do, they just can't seem to win a match, often being extremely unlucky or being at the receiving end of some brilliant innings. It is highly commendable that McCullum has still managed to put on a brave face and not lost his smile, since a lesser man would have wilted long ago beneath the pressure. However, being tough does is not the only quality that goes into making a good captain, and Kolkata would be wondering if Buchanan's orchestrated removal of Ganguly has not hampered them largely. It is tempting and easy to think that had Ganguly been leading, a lot of the close matches would have fallen the Knight Riders' way.
Chennai Super Kings: Even though they have almost sealed their semi-final spot, they will not relax an inch against Kolkata. For one, they would want to keep their winning momentum, and for another, with the table still so close, no one knows how one loss will affect teams later. However, the batting is still too dependant on Hayden - which is a worrying sign for a side that has players like Dhoni, Badrinath and Raina. They are all in the mix for being regulars in the Indian team, but they need to take more responsibility. Makhaya Ntini could get his first game today instead of Jacob Oram.
X Factor:
Brendon McCullum - The Kolkata skipper has looked like getting back into his best form for the past few matches, and if he does explode, then there is little the opposition can do. Just ask Bangalore.
Shadab Jakati - He has arrived with a big splash, but the key to being successsful is maintaining his initial form, after the opposition has had time to study and sort him out. He looks capable of doing it, and against a team that is struggling, should be looking to make a good contribution.
Numbers Game:
7 - The number of matches that Chennai has won this year, which is equal to the total number of matches Kolkata has won last year and this year.
2 - The position on Kolkata's run charts of its much maligned skipper Brendon McCullum. It says a lot about the team, that even though he has struggled for a large part of the tournament, McCullum is still its second highest run scorer.
Teams:
Chennai Super Kings (From): Matthew Hayden, Parthiv Patel, Suresh Raina, Mahendra Singh Dhoni(w/c), Subramaniam Badrinath, Jacob Oram, Albie Morkel, Sudeep Tyagi, Laxmipathy Balaji, Shadab Jakati, Muttiah Muralitharan, Joginder Sharma, Manpreet Gony, Arun Karthik, George Bailey, Makhaya Ntini, Mike Hussey, Murali Vijay, Palani Amarnath, Ravichandran Ashwin, Thilan Thushara, Viraj Kadbe
Kolkata Knight Riders (From): Brendon McCullum(c), Saurav Ganguly, Bradley Hodge, David Hussey, Wriddhiman Saha(w), Yashpal Singh, Ajit Agarkar, Mashrafe Mortaza, Murali Kartik, Ishant Sharma, Shoaib Shaikh, Laxmi Shukla, Ajantha Mendis, Charl Langeveldt, Aditya Dole, Ameya Shrikhande, Abhisek Banerjee, Angelo Mathews, Moises Henriques, Anureet Singh, Anustup Majumdar, Arindam Ghosh, Ashok Dinda, Avik Chowdhury, Bhavik Thaker, Chetan Suryavanshi, Debabrata Das, Dhiran Salvi, Gaurav Chabra, Gnaneswara Rao, Iqbal Abdulla, Ishwar Choudhary, Kshemal Waingankar, Mark Cameron, Mohammad Sanuth, Mohnish Parmar, Murtuza Hussain, Natraj Behera, Rajesh Verma, Ranadeb Bose, Rohan Banerjee, Sachin Rana, Sanjay Bangar, Sanjib Sanyal, Saurasish Lahiri, Shatrunjay Gaekwad, Sheldon Jackson, Siddarth Kaul, Sourav Sarkar, Sunny Singh, Vinit Indulkar, Morne van Wyk
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