IPL 2010 & KKR: Chennai clashes with in-form KKR

The second match of the day will see Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s Chennai  Super Kings taking on the in-form Kolkata Knight Riders who are now riding high after scoring back to back win in their first two matches in IPL.

KKR is obviously the firm favorites of this match going by their recent performance but it just takes one match to change all and Chennai will be looking forward to do that.

KKR should not get complacent as the Chennai’s batting line-up speaks volume about them. Matt Hayden and Justin Kemp are surely eyeing this match to announce their return to form.

KKR is set to get a big boost as Shane Bond has arrived in Kolkata yesterday and will play in this match but then will KKR change their winning team?? If Bond comes in then Charl Langeveldt have to make way for the Kiwi pacer. It will be really interesting to see when the squad will be announced.

Meanwhile my dark horse for the match is Owais Shah, the England middle-order batsman has proved his credential in the first match and I am sure he will do it again. Angelo Matthews will also play a vital role in this match as he did in the last two encounters. I also hope that the opening pair doesn’t changes from the last match as Hodge and Tiwary has done a superb job and should continue doing this. Captain Sourav Ganguly’s batting form doesn’t seem to be that impressive and I expect to see him proving a point or two to the people sitting in the stands. He has done a brilliant job coming back as a captain and now the batsman in him needs to prove it once again that he still deserves to play alongside the best of international cricket.

Chennai have to perform in their batting dept. more and that’s why the Indian batsman like Suresh Raina and S.Badrinath needs to be cautious while playing in a wicket today that supports the bowlers most of the time. I expect to see Albie Morkel coming up the order as he can really hit the bowlers hard and will be an  exciting prospect for today’s match.

The bowling line-up of Chennai hasn’t performed that well in the last match and we expect to see some changes in that too. Hopefully Manpreet Singh Gony will replace Sudip Tyagi and if possible we can see the likes of Ntini also coming back into action. The best thing would be to bat first coz chasing under lights is getting tougher day by day and so the toss will be crucial.

Let’s see what happens when the two teams meets tonight in Eden Gardens.