Bangalore Royal Challengers will clash with Kolkata Knight Riders on April 18 in the inagural match of the first Indian Premier League (IPL) 20-20 tournament. This IPL Twenty20 match will be held at M. Chinnaswamy stadium in Bangalore under flood lights. Bollywood beauty Katrina Kaif will endorse Bangalore IPL team which is looking weak in all departments when compared to Kolkata IPL team which is owned by Bollywood Badshaw Shahrukh Khan.
Match timing: 7 PM – 11 PM on April 18, 2008.Stadium: M. Chinnaswamy stadium, Bangalore.
Significant rule: Each team can field only 4 foreign players per match. Bangalore may field Mark Boucher, Kallis, Cameroon White/Ross Taylor and Misbah-Ul-Haq or some bowler while Kolkata may field Chris Gayle, Ricky Ponting, Umar Gul and Brendon McCullum.
Bangalore IPL team will play without their star bowlers, Anil Kumble, Dale Steyn and Nathan Bracken in the first match. Anil Kumble will miss the first match due to groin injury. Nathan Bracken will miss first four matches. Dale Steyn will not play in the initial matches due to a domestic competition at home. Kolkata IPL team will miss Shoaib Akthar due to ban.
IPL Teams analysis: Bangalore IPL team:
Strengths:
1. Mark Boucher all round capabilities.
2. Misbah-Ul-Haq in the middle order.
3. Most experienced players.
4. Under-19 players may surprise us.
Weaknesses:
1. Weak bowling, batting and fielding.
2. Absence of Dale Steyn, Anil Kumble and Nathan bracken.
Kolkata Knight Riders:
Strengths:
1. Strong batting lineup.
2. So many match winners like Chris Gayle and Ricky Ponting.
3. Ishant Sharma and Umar Gul.
4. Sourav Ganguly’s inspirational captaincy and John Buchanan coaching.
5. Brendon McCullum hard hitting.
6. Many young under-19 players.
7. Strong bench strength.
Weak points:
1. Absence of world class spinner.
2. Young guns lack experience.
Crucial off field battle:
Shahrukh Khan Vs Katrina Kaif - Brand ambassadors.
Kolkata Knight Riders team:
Sourav Ganguly, Chris Gayle, Ricky Ponting, David Hussey, Brendon McCullum, Umar Gul, Ishant Sharma, Ajit Agarkar, Murali Karthik, Salman Butt, Akash Chopra, Taibu, Sarwan, Cheteswar Pujara, Siddarth kaul, Yashpal Singh, Ranadeb Bose, Laxmi Ratan Shukla, Rohan Banarjee, Debabrata Das, Sourashish Lahiri, Mohammad Hafeez, Iqbal Abdullah.
Coach: John Buchanan.
Bangalore Royal challengers: (Nickname: Best test team).
Rahul Dravid, Anil Kumble, Mark Boucher, Nathan bracken, Chanderpaul, Kallis, Wasim Jaffer, Zaheer Khan, Dale Steyn, Cameroon White, Virat Kohli, Misbah-Ul-Haq, Abdur Razzak, Ross Taylor, Srivatsa Goswami.
Verdict: Kolkata IPL team will easily beat Bangalore Royal Challengers in the inaugural 20-20 match due to absence of its main bowlers. This match may not live up to its reputation. Bangalore management’s wrong selection of players during IPL auction will be exposed in this match.
Can Chanderpaul surprise us as he did against Sri Lanka in the recent one day match by hitting last ball sixer?
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