Beaten by Warriors in the opening match, Royal Challengers Bangalore
will aim for redemption when they take on an equally desperate Kolkata
Knight Riders in a do-or-die group league encounter of the Champions
League Twenty20 cricket tournament on Thursday.
 Though Gayle was off to a rollicking start, smashing 23 off 14 balls, he could not sustain the tempo and convert the start into a match-winning innings. © AFP |
Having suffered a narrow defeat against Warriors in the opener, the
Vijay Mallya-owned side will once again be the favourites against
Shahrukh Khan's Knights, which has come into the tournament as
underdogs, having lost three games on the trot, including one in the
qualifying leg.
The teams will be desperate for a victory as another defeat would
severely dent their chances of a semi-final berth as only top-two teams
in each Group would make the last-four stage.
The talent in RCB ranks can hardly be questioned but the results are
yet to be seen. Their batsmen were diligent against Warriors, posting a
challenging total but it was their bowlers, who failed to stem the run
flow and snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.
All eyes will be on the marauding Chris Gayle, who can
single-handedly take the game away on his day, as he did against KKR at
the Eden during the last edition of Indian Premier League.
The hard-hitting Jamaican was not in his imperious and dominating
self against Warriors. Though Gayle was off to a rollicking start,
smashing 23 off 14 balls, adorned with two hits to the fence and two
over it, he could not sustain the tempo and convert the start into a
match-winning innings.
Apart from Gayle, RCB has the players to provide fire power in Virat
Kohli and AB de Villiers. Kohli made 34 against Warriors while De
Villiers' game is suited to T20 requirements.
Saurabh Tiwary and Mohammed Kaif also chipped in with useful scores
in the first match. Leading the pace attack will be left-arm bowler Dirk
Nannes and Karnataka seamer Sreenath Aravind.
RCB has another talented fast bowler in Abhimanyu Mithun, but the India-discard has not lived up to his billing.
The spin department will be shouldered by skipper Daniel Vettori. Led
by Gautam Gambhir, KKR lacked the wherewithal against the rampaging
Redbacks on Tuesday night.
Barring Manoj Tiwary's 36-ball 40, their batsmen failed to post a
worthy score while the bowling looked out of sorts with Brett Lee and
Iqbal Abdulla giving away runs at ease.
Gambhir, the most expensive player, sold for a whopping USD 2.4
million, too would be eager to get back into the grind as the left
hander is coming into the tournament after suffering a concussion and
didn't make a great start into tournament, scoring a mere nine runs
against Redbacks after failing to open his account against Somerset.
KKR, smarting under three defeats in a row, need to rework on their
bowling department, as the frontline bowlers are turning out to be
expensive.
Against the Redbacks total of 188, KKR could only manage 169/9 to fall 19 runs short of the winning target.
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