Top bowlers for Knight Riders

S.No	Player	Overs	Maidens	Runs	Wickets	NB	Wd	RPO
1	Ajit Agarkar	20	0	158	8	1	8	7.9
2	A Dinda	20	0	118	5	2	7	5.9
3	Umar Gul	8	0	58	5	2	3	7.3
4	Ishant Sharma	20.4	1	139	4	3	5	6.8
5	Murali Kartik	9.4	0	74	3	0	1	7.9
6	Mohammad Hafeez	10	0	68	2	1	3	6.8
7	Saurav Ganguly	7	0	49	2	0	1	7.0
8	David Hussey	9	0	98	2	0	1	10.9
9	Laxmi Ratan Shukla	5.1	0	57	2	1	2	11.2
10	R Vinay Kumar	4	0	41	0	0	0	10.3

 

 

Video : Kolkata Knight Riders promotional video

Kolkata Knight Riders promotional video of Shah Rukh.

Video : Knight Riders vs Super Kings TV ad

Interesting IPl ad of Knight Riders vs Super Kings

Chris Gayle to miss IPL first-edition

Sad, but true. The first centurion of the international 20-20 is set to miss IPL first edition because of groin injury. Chris Gayle is part of Kolkata Knight Riders team. It would be interesting to see who would they replace with. He was bid for $800,000. It would also be interesting to see if they will replace him as they are doing good without him. What would they do with that money? One more music video maybe.
Read more at  nationnews.

Anil Ambani is game too

When Mukesh Ambani  bought Mumbai franchise and named the team Mumbai Indians, I began to wonder where was Anil Ambani. It is because they never let each other go with anything in business. They always compete, sometimes fiercely. They have a non-compete agreement but they have ingenuous ways of going around that.

This news from timesofindia have answered my questions. Anil Ambani’s ADAG group’s online gaming company Zapak.com has tied up with Kolkata Knight Riders team to host a cricket zone on Knight Riders website.They will also supply content to the Knight Riders website. Zapak will add 8 more  games to this website making the total to 10.

HindustanTimes also reports the same news.

Disappointed Deccan Chargers, ecstatic Royal Challengers

That’s two predictions that went wrong. I thought Deccan Chargers will win. They did not. I thought Royal Challengers will not win. They did.

That’s the beauty of Twenty20 cricket. There is no clear winner until the last ball is bowled and there is no clear favorites to the tournament. Though I still feel Deccan Chargers have the best team.

What went wrong for Deccan Chargers?
1. The pitch. It was horrible and not sure how one could prepare such a pitch. That too in Kolkata. The sport loving city. Though it did not provide any fair advantage to any particular team.
2. Andrew Symonds 1st Over : Why was he bowling his pacers when he can spin the ball and the pitch is really helping you?
3. VVS Laxman giving Symonds the second over. What were you thinking?
4. Not using Chaminda Vaas’s 4th over. Seriously, this is a grave mistake
5. Umpire Hariharan. He was really harsh with Symonds. The track is unpredictable and as a bowler how can you control the ball which turns after it pitches and you are not doing anything to turn the ball.
6. The blackout. This is the first time I have witnessed this. I think it helped Knight Riders
7. Shah Rukh. Along with his entourage he is a big distraction.

What went wrong for Mumbai Indians?
1. Harbhajan as captain? I am not thouroughly convinced. As I have given the ranking in my previous post the first choice would have been Shaun Pollock and last option is Harbhajan Singh. That’s contrarian thinking. Except, contrarian thinking pays well in capital markets not on a cricket field.
2. Robin Uthappa’s obsession with the scoop shot.

Royal Challengers team changes were subtle and good. Chanderpaul is a welcome addition and Wasim Jaffer is a welcome deletion.
The way they fighted back after taking a drumming from Knight Riders is commendable. This is getting really exciting.

Can we expect a turnaround from Rajastan Royals?

Mother of all matches : Knight Riders vs Deccan Chargers

Knight Riders riding high after their win against Royal Challengers will be taking on Deccan Chargers at their Kolkata home ground. This should be an exciting match. After considering the line-ups both teams pose the DLF Sixers records might be broken. You got Mathew Hayden and Brendon McCullum followed by Saurav Ganguly the local boy on one side. The other side you have Andrew Symonds, Adam Gilchrist and Scott Styris.

Deccan Chargers will be missing Herschelle Gibbs and Shahi Afridi definitely but still they pose a formidable challenge and can surpress bouyant Knight Riders. It would be interesting to see what team will be picked up by Deccan Chargers captain VVS Laxman as there is a cap on the overseas players.

So far its the overseas players who are performing and the Indian players are yet to show their T20 skills.

Players have to deal with the Indian summer as the match starts at 4 PM and boy the heat at that time is unbearable. Whoever bats second might win the match.

Odds might be favoring Knight Riders but Deccan Chargers will win this match. Either way I am expecting a close finish unlike the last 3 matches.

Players to watch out :

1. Mathew Hayden
2. Brendon McCullum
3. Andrew Symonds
4. Adam Gilchrist
5. Scott Styris
6. Venugopal Rao

Knight Riders win the first IPL Match

They did it in style. Thourough professional performance by the Riders team and Shah Rukh is ecstatic. Brendon McCullum gets the the following awards:

1. Maximum sixers award (13 sixers). Cash Prize : 1 lakh Rupees
2. Man of Match award. Cash Prize : 1 lakh rupees.
3. Unofficially a 7 Kg Gold Helmet from Shah Rukh.

Royal Challengers did not pose any challenge really. They are missing some quality 20-20 players like Misbah-Ul-Haq, Nathen Bracken and Dale Steyn.

Brendon McCullum wreaks Havoc in Bangalore

Bought for $700,000 New Zealand player Brendon McCullum teared apart the Royal Challengers bowling atack (not exactly an attack). The whole innings is a chanceless innings punctuated by sixers very often. Knight Riders were missing Chris Gayle (the lone centurion in T20 so far) but, that did not stop them. McCullum filled the gap and did it in style.

Royal Challengers fielding was sloppy, bowling attack teethless, and captiancy dormant. Royal Challengers did not look like they are gonna challenge anything. The saving grace for the team were Pravin Kumar and left-arm seamer Sunil Joshi. Challengers do not have enough firepower with the bat to match the fireworks of McCullum. They are also missing Misbah-Ul-Haq. Just have to wait for Cameron White to fire if they fancy a chance.

McCullum hit 158 in 73 balls with 10 boundaries and 13 sixers. The last ball of the innings was dispatched to a six. This is the highest ever score in 20-20.

Knight Riders scored 222/3 in 20 overs.

222 runs in 120 balls is a tall order for Royal Challengers.

David Hussey ready for IPL

Australian player David Hussey who is scheduled to play for english county team Nottinghamshire this summer got the clearance to play for IPL for the next 6 weeks. Hussey will return to play county cricket after playing for 2 weeks for IPL and touring west indies. Hussey was replaced by Adam Voges.

David Hussey was  bought by Shah Rukh Khan Kolkata Knight Riders for $625,000. This should come as a welcome relief for Kolkata team owner Shah Rukh Khan who has already lost pacer Shoaib Akthar.