Rajasthan Royals vs. Kolkata Knight Riders, Motera, Ahmedabad – 20th March 2010 Rajasthan Royals take on Kolkata Knight Riders in one of the most crucial games of the tournament at Ahmedabad. After three consecutive losses RR would be looking to fight back with vengeance. Skipper Shane Warne has promised that the team would bounce back from the recent defeats and play some good cricket.
Apart from the game against RCB were they were outplayed, RR showed great spirit against MI and DD to gave their opposition a run for their money. RR has batted well in patches in the tournament but have not done it for longer duration of time and this is one of the things that they would like to rectify. With Adam Voges and Johan Botha’s inclusion in the RR squad is expected to give the much needed experience they have been lacking. Adam Voges has a very good record in T20 cricket and RR can certainly benefit with his all-round skills. Also the fact that he is an exceptional fielder would help the team to elevate their fielding standards. Johan Botha also would be handy in Indian conditions and he is also useful lower order batsman. RR would again look up to Naman Ojha to get the team off to a good start. Yusuf Pathan as always would be the key in the middle order. Martyn and Voges’ inclusion in the middle order will certainly relieve some burden off Yusuf’s shoulders.
Bowling of RR needs to tighten-up significantly. Their new ball bowling has not been up to the mark and its time that Munaf Patel gives Royals a good start with the ball. Sumeet Narwal and Siddhrath Trivedi need to pull up their socks and put in some match-winning performances. Warne looked really good in the two overs that he bowled against RCB and he would definitely be looking to lead the team from the front and what better way than to take some important wickets. KKR’s batting is relatively weaker compared to their bowling. However with the return of Chris Gayle, it is strengthened and it would be really interesting to see how the RR bowlers fare against him. The tussle between two exceptionally experienced captains Saurav Ganguly and Shane Warne will defiantly be a feast to ones eyes.
All in all the game is expected to very exciting as there is very little to choose between the two teams. RR needs to play their cricket with the same élan and intensity as they did in the first season. They have to remember that form is temporary and class in permanent and believe that they have it in them to turn this difficult situation around.
Player to watch out for: Shane Warne has done it for Australia so many times that it is almost inevitable that whenever there is a difficult situation he is the man to go to. Warne needs to pull out something special to motivate his team and get their campaign back on track. He needs to remind his team that it was the ‘team spirit’ and oneness that made them the inaugural champions. He needs to work his captaincy charm on his squad again as he did in the inaugural season.
RR Squad (from): Swapnil Asnodkar, Naman Ojha, Abhishek Jhunjhunwala, Yusuf Pathan, Paras Dogra, Shane Warne, Shaun Tait, Sumeet Narwal, Kamran Khan, Munaf Patel, Michael Lumb, Damien Martyn, Siddhrath Trivedi, Adam Voges and Johan Botha.
Halla Bol!!!
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