Daijiworld Media Network
Kolkata, Apr 14 : Time for Kolkata vs Hyderabad, and surprisingly, it's Hyderabad who are looking in better form than the defending champions. It's a pleasant surprise though, as it's always nice to see an underdog punching above its weight and performing well. Kolkata have played 3 games and have won only 1, while Hyderabad have played 4 and won 3. The good thing for Kolkata is that their victory came at home, where they are always strong.
Kolkata have won the toss and elected to bat
Sangakkara: It was nice to get on the road and win one. We played well against Bangalore but Kohli took it away from us there. I'm happy with my form but need to kick on and convert. It's all about contributions from everyone. Fantastic venue - it's one of my favourite grounds in the world. We would have batted as well, but we have to restrict them. It will slow down as the game progresses. Karan Sharma comes in for Anand Rajan.
Gambhir: Nice to be back here. Pleasure to play here, the crowd will be great. In such a big tournament, we have to keep improving in all areas. It's a hard game played by 22 men, you go there to win. Things happen in the heat of the moment but it's important to not take it off the field. It looks a good wicket. Senanayake plays in place of McLaren.
Teams :
Hyderabad (Playing XI): Dwaraka Ravi Teja, Parthiv Patel(w), Kumar Sangakkara(c), Hanuma Vihari, Cameron White, Thisara Perera, Ashish Reddy, Karan Sharma, Amit Mishra, Dale Steyn, Ishant Sharma
Kolkata (Playing XI): Manvinder Bisla(w), Gautam Gambhir(c), Jacques Kallis, Yusuf Pathan, Manoj Tiwary, Eoin Morgan, Rajat Bhatia, Laxmi Shukla, Sachithra Senanayake, Sunil Narine, Lakshmipathy Balaji
Preview
Defending champions Kolkata, who suffered back to back losses in two away games, will be looking to get their campaign back on track when they take on Hyderabad at home. Meanwhile, the Sun Network owned team, who have been mediocre despite winning three games, will be hoping for a stronger performance against the Shah Rukh Khan owned franchise.
Kolkata
Team news: While Gautam Gambhir announced that Brendon McCullum had recovered from a hamstring injury, the team management decided against including him in their previous game against Bangalore while bringing in Ryan McLaren in place of Brett Lee in that game. The South African all-rounder was a failure in that match and it will be interesting to see if he is persisted with, or Brett lee is brought back or Kolkata decide to strengthen their batting by giving McCullum a game.
In form players:
Gautam Gambhir has been amongst the runs this season and he extended his form by registering his maiden fifty of the season in the match against Bangalore. The skipper is a vital contributor at the top of the order and while he will be hoping to click again with the bat, he will also expect the others to contribute as he is currently the only player in the Kolkata line-up to have scored more than 100 runs this season.
Sunil Narine has been excellent with the ball for the Kolkata team, having picked up 6 wickets so far, including a four wicket haul against Delhi in the opening game of the tournament. Apart from being the team's highest wicket-taker this season, Narine has also been their most economical bowler, and with an economy rate of 4.83, he is the lone bowler in his team to have conceded less than 6.
Struggling for form:
There have been quite a few players who are struggling for form in the Kolkata line-up. Manvinder Bisla has been a failure as an opener, not managing to go past single digit scores in all the three innings. Manoj Tiwary, with scores of 23, 14 and 23, is yet to do anything significant with the bat. Jacques Kallis, who was one of Kolkata's major contributors last season with both the bat and the ball, has struggled to get going this year. McLaren and Pradeep Sangwan suffered the brunt of the Gayle attack in the last match with both conceding 34 runs each and going at an economy in excess of 10.
Previous results: Lost to Bangalore by 8 wickets, Lost to Rajasthan by 19 runs, Won against Delhi by 6 wickets.
Probable 4 foreigners:Brendon McCullum, Jacques Kallis, Eoin Morgan, Sunil Narine.
Hyderabad: Hyderabad do not have any concerns in terms of injuries apart from the absence of Shikhar Dhawan. What they will be most concerned about is the performance of the batsmen, who have been very inconsistent and might contemplate on some changes in the batting order.
Struggling for form:
In the four matches that they have played so far, there has only been one individual half-century score, which came from Cameron White and two scores in the 40s (Thisara Perera 40, Hanuma Vihari 44*). Apart from this, there has been nothing significant to speak about Hyderabad's batting performance with not one player managing to cross the barrier of 100 runs this season. The main let-downs with the bat are Parthiv Patel, Akshath Reddy and the skipper Kumar Sangakkara himself. The rest of the batters haven't done all that great either, barring the knocks mentioned above. Amit Mishra and Dale Steyn leading the team to victory in the last game would have been like a kick on the backside for the batsmen, who will be eager to make a mark in the remaining games.
In form players:
In complete contrast to their batting displays, Hyderabad have been superb with the ball, being served well by the likes of Steyn, Mishra and Ishant Sharma while Perera too has done a good job. Steyn, Ishant and Perera have scalped six wickets apiece while Mishra has 5 against his name so far. While the economy of Ishant and Perera is slightly over 7, Steyn (4.73) and Mishra (5.68) have miserly figures.
Previous results:Won against Delhi by 3 wickets, Lost to Bangalore by 7 wickets, Won against Bangalore in the Super Over, Won against Pune by 22 runs.