Indian Premier League - IPL 
/ Jamie "The Pacman" Pacheco / 06 April 2011 / Leave a Comment 
Kings of the crease. Suresh Raina and MS Dhoni are two of the best batsmen in the IPL.
"Gambhir will open or bat at three and is clearly in good nick after scoring 97 in the World Cup final. Go with the skipper."
Defending champions Chennai, led by the iceman MS Dhoni take on a new-look Kolkata. There will be big hits, a few giggles and a load of adverts. It's the start of the IPL.
Chennai
Less than a week after captaining India to the World Cup MS Dhoni is back leading the Chennai Superkings. His first task will be to decide which four overseas players to pick for the opener. His task is made slightly easier by the fact Dwayne Bravo is unlikely to be fit. That means having a capable all-rounder to replace him is paramount, making Albie Morkel a shoo-in; the same goes for the irrepressible Mike Hussey. Tim Southee was the third highest wicket-taker at the World Cup with 18 so he clearly likes bowling in the sub-continent and will probably also play. Chennai's batting is as ever very strong so the fourth slot may go to a bowler, possibly Nuwan Kulasekara.
Kolkata Knight Riders
The first thing Kolkata needed to do was get rid of the selfish and self-obcessed Sourav Ganguly, as both captain and player. Now that they've done that and replaced him with Gautam Gambhir they might actually have a chance of making the play-offs. Brett Lee and Jacques Kallis are almost certain to play and the same goes for Brad Haddin though it remains to be seen whether he'll open or bat in the middle-order. Betting.betfair columnist Ryan ten Doeschate may fill the fourth slot ahead of Shakib-al Hasan and Eoin Morgan, who had a relatively poor World Cup.
Match Odds
It's hard to make a case against Chennai. They're at home and are the most successful team since the start of the IPL after finishing runners-up (2008), semi-finalists (2009) and winners (2010). They have the best captain in this format and three of the best players Indian players in this format in Suresh Raina, Murali Vijay and again, Dhoni. The best option may be to go with Chennai to win at [1.74] before the toss because if they bat first and start well they'll be [1.4] before you know it.
Kolkata Top Batsman
Haddin scores quickly enough but can be a little reckless whilst Kallis has a nasty habit of scoring slowly early on and then getting out just as he starts to accelerate in this format. Yusuf Pathan is an outrageous talent but he's what us cricket fans call a "daisy" - some days he does, some days he doesn't - and will probably bat too low anyway. Gambhir will open or bat at three and is clearly in good nick after scoring 97 in the World Cup final. Go with the skipper.
Best Bet:
Back Gautam Gambhir to be top Kolkata run scorer at [4.5]
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