"Last season’s Champions KKR won their opening game so comfortably against Delhi that it seemed certain that Gautam Gambhir’s men would cruise into the top four."
Two sides at the wrong end of the IPL table face off on Thursday and Matt Harris expects the disappointing Knight Riders to restore some pride.
Pune Warriors v Kolkata Knight Riders
Start Time: 15:30 BST
TV: Live on ITV4 and ITV.com
Pune Warriors
Pune are bottom of the IPL pile after twelve games that have yielded just two solitary wins. Incredibly, one of those victories was an emphatic one over league leaders the Super Kings and that is a frustrating indication of what this talented but underperforming squad could have achieved.
One of the issues for the Warriors throughout this competition has been an inability to find a settled team and after skipper Michael Clarke had to withdraw before the tournament had begun, replacement Angelo Mathews took over but his own performances failed to warrant a start.
Unlike other sides, Pune have now tried all their overseas players in an attempt to find a balanced team but they've failed to do so and aside from Aaron Finch, nobody has really shown any form. Currently, Pune look as if they can't wait for IPL 6 to end and it's hard to see the Warriors battling for points on Wednesday.
Kolkata Knight Riders
Last season's Champions KKR won their opening game so comfortably against Delhi that it seemed certain that Gautam Gambhir's men would cruise into the top four. Since then however, there have been just three wins from eleven to put the Knight Riders on the brink of elimination.
Kolkata's campaign wasn't helped by an early injury to Brendon McCullum who has now left the IPL to join up with New Zealand's tour of England. But the real disappointments have been two key players - Jacques Kallis and Yusuf Pathan.
KKR have kept faith in Kallis, despite a poor return with bat and ball while Pathan has been shunted around the batting order with little effect in any position. Kolkata's ultimate elimination is down to a number of additional factors and if they were playing anyone other than Pune, Gambhir's men could expect another defeat.
Venue and Conditions
In five IPL matches at the Subrata Roy Sahara Stadium this year, the average first innings score has been 143 but the lack of quality in the home side makes a par total hard to judge. Within those games, Pune have managed the lowest score of 99 while RCB bludgeoned their way to 187 last week.
However, 150 should be a minimum target for the team taking first knock on a cloudless day where temperatures are expected to peak at around 40 degrees centigrade.
Match Odds
Pune's dismal performances see them installed as the outside bet at 2.26/5 but it's worth remembering that Kolkata have been equally poor at times. Those odds seem quite generous in comparison to KKR's 1.695/7 but Gambhir's side should just have enough quality to edge this.
Pune Top Batsman
Aaron Finch is the only player to show any consistent form so he's an obvious favourite at 3.39/4. Even in Pune's worst defeats, Finch has stood out but he has received great support on occasion from fellow opener Robin Uthappa who is a better bet to top score at 3.7511/4.
Kolkata Top Batsman
Gambhir started the tournament in prolific form and was carrying the side at one point but twelve runs from his last three knocks suggest that the responsibility has drained him. Gambhir remains favourite here at 3.39/4 but in contrast with his skipper, Manvinder Bisla has improved as the tournament has developed and is a better option at 5.04/1.
Recommended Bet
Back Kolkata to win at 1.695/7
There are no comments on this article.
No comments:
Post a Comment