By IANS,
Kolkata : Hosts Kolkata Knight Riders and Delhi Daredevils, who are better-placed to make the semi-finals, will look to climb up the Indian Premier League (IPL) ladder after their high-voltage clash here Tuesday.
Both teams will go into the battle at the Eden Gardens with different feelings. While Sourav Ganguly’s team have won their last two matches to take their tally to eight points from eight matches, Virender Sehwag’s Delhi have suffered close defeats in their last three matches to remain at eight.
Although both teams have eight points from as many matches, the Knight Riders (+0.545) are a shade ahead of Delhi (+0.500) on the net run rate. With the race in the 59-match Twenty20 tournament intensifying, net run rate could come into play in determining the semi-finals if the qualifying teams tie on points.
Rajasthan Royals (14 points), Chennai Super Kings (12) and Kings XI Punjab (10) are leading the semi-final race, followed Kolkata Knight Riders and Delhi Daredevils.
Ganguly has touched his best form in the tournament in Hyderabad on Saturday and Kolkata’s bowling will be bolstered by the the inclusion of fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar. Shoiab himself publicly stated that he would be playing against the Daredevils.
Ganguly scored a strokeful 91 off just 57 balls, in addition to the two wickets he captured, and Australian David Hussey remained unbeaten on a rapid fire 57 in their last match against Deccan Chargers in Hyderabad Sunday.
Delhi, on the other hand, have been a bit unlucky to lose their last three games. They ran hosts Rajasthan Royals close before losing in the last over Sunday night. On Thursday, they lost to the visiting Chennai Super Kings off the very last ball while defending 188.
Delhi have not performed badly in both batting and bowling departments. But their fielding will have to improve Tuesday if they have to put up a fight against the Knight Riders in front of an expected full house at the Eden Gardens.
Delhi’s fielding, especially catching, against Rajasthan Royals left a lot to be desired as a few simple catches were surprisingly dropped and the misses contributed decisively to their defeat at Sawai Man Singh Stadium.
Teams:
Kolkata Kinght Riders: Sourav Ganguly (captain), Aakash Chopra, Ajit Agarkar, Ashok Dinda, Cheteshwar Pujara, David Hussey, Debabrata Das, Iqbal Abdulla, Ishant Sharma, Laxmi Ratan Shukla, Mohammad Hafeez, Murali Kartik, Wriddhiman Saha (wicketkeeper), Rohan Banerjee, Salman Butt, Saurasish Lahiri, Siddarth Kaul, Shoaib Akhtar, Tatenda Taibu (wicketkeeper), Umar Gul and Yashpal Singh
Delhi Daredevils: Virender Sehwag (captain), Rajat Bhatia, A.B. de Villiers, Shikhar Dhawan, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Pradeep Sangwan, Gautam Gambhir, Brett Geeves, Dinesh Karthik (wicket-keeper), Glenn McGrath, Farveez Maharoof, Shoaib Malik, Tejashwi Yadav, Yo Mahesh, Mithun Manhas, Amit Mishra, Mohammad Asif, Yogesh Nagar, Manoj Tiwary, Mayank Tehlan