Knight Riders- The new Avatar!

After three humiliating IPL seasons Shahrukh Khan left no stone unturned for KKR team selections this year. He did his best in bagging the best performers around. This team of KKR is 100 percent new, fresh,better and formidable comparing the previous seasons. However the team has taken a tough decision by leaving Sourav Dada aside, who was their icon Cricketer in the last 3 seasons, even though his performances were not up to the mark. 

Long list of nominees of ICC Cricket awards

Here is the list of Nominees posted by the ICC. The ICC Cricket Awards will take place in October in Bangalore.

Long-lists of nominees (in alphabetical order; each category will be reduced to a short-list in due course)

Preview CL: Royal Challengers Bangalore

Much was spoken about this team in IPL 3. There was a surprise package from the RCBians IPL 2 and Inaugural Champions League. This CLT20 2, The Royal Challengers of Bangalore look boosted in the presence of the Foreign Trio of Jacques Kallis, Ross Taylor and Cameron While who have preferred playing for the Men in Red than their home teams.

CL T20 squads come in for all teams

One of the costliest players bought in the IPL, missed season 3 of IPL due to a knee injury. Yes, it is Andrew Flintoff, he will miss the Champions League 2nd Edition this Sepetember too. Chennai Super Kings will miss the English all rounder Flintoff. But, the Giant who recently retired from the Test form- Muttiah Muralitharan is in the action for the Champions League.

Juan Theron in SA T20 squad

The South African cricket Board has named the T20 squad for the Caribbean tournament starting April 30th. Juan Theron is the only new and uncapped player.

Good signs for South Africa is that Graeme Smith who went back home from IPL suffering an injury will be alright and will lead the team in the Cup.

However, Wayne Parnell and Justin Kemp who got themselves injured in the IPL won’t get a chance to play in the T20 World Cup.

In Parnell’s absence, Juan Theron who impressed everyone by leading the bowling attack of KXIP from the front in IPL and won the match for them has been given a place in the squad.

With the presence of Rory Kleinveldt, the all rounder adds depth to both bowling and batting. He was a part of the Under 19 team and is in fine form now.

The Coach of South Africa told:-

I am delighted that we have Graeme Smith back from injury to lead us in this campaign. At the same time it is sad to lose players of the calibre of Wayne Parnell and Justin Kemp.

Rory Kleinveldt will be a good like-for-like replacement for Parnell. He is capable of opening the bowling or operating at first change and he has also been a regular death bowler for the Cobras which is an important area for us. Rory also gives us some good batting options down the order

Rusty Theron has impressed everybody both with his skills and his temperament both in domestic cricket and in the Indian Premier League. He was a key player for the Warriors in doing the domestic limited overs double.

South Africa are placed with India and Afghanisthan in the Cup.

SQUAD:-

Graeme Smith (capt), Jacques Kallis, Loots Bosman, Johan Botha, Mark Boucher, AB de Villiers, JP Duminy, Herschelle Gibbs, Rory Kleinveldt, Charl Langeveldt, Albie Morkel, Morne Morkel, Dale Steyn, Juan Theron, Roelof van der Merwe

Uthappa wins it for RCB, CSK short by 36

BANGALORE”S UTHAPPA GIVES A HIGH TOTAL FOR CSK TO CHASE:-

It was not the best of starts for the Team in Red. The Ace Player, Jacques Kallis who was not out for the previous 4 games got out for 19 even before the powerplay got over.So, the untested middle order was put to test. It was a quiet start for the Royal Challengers Bangalore. Pandey, Kohli and Morgan all were back to the hut even before the team went for the kill.

But, Uthappa kept his bat swinging. The Banglorean exploded and went for the attack in the 18th over. He went after Ashwin for a mighty sixer in that over. The main kill just started in Balaji’s over where he hit him for three consecutive sixes over the park. 245 runs of the over. He did all to manage to a total of 171 which no one thought of.

CSK SHORT BY 36 RUNS- MIDDLE ORDER CRUMBLES

Not the best starts the Kings wanted. Parthiv Patel edged the swinging ball of Praveen Kumar in the first over itself. The Mongoose man kept quite for a bit and played running game. But, soon he bought in the Mini Mongoose which goosed up Vinay Kumar for consecutive fours in an over.

But, it was unfortunate for the Big fellow Hayden as he fell short of his crease and took a long hop to the hut. After Hayden’s wicket in the 10th over, wickets started tumbling. Vinay Kumar troubled the batsmen and first got out George Bailey, then Suresh Raina, then Murali Vijay. A Bad outing for CSK, Albie and Badri couldn’t do much to get a win.

Squads:

Royal Challengers Bangalore :
JH Kallis, MK Pandey, RV Uthappa, V Kohli, R Dravid, EJG Morgan, MV Boucher, P Kumar, A Kumble, DW Steyn, R Vinay Kumar.

Chennai Super Kings :
PA Patel, ML Hayden, M Vijay, SK Raina, S Badrinath, GJ Bailey, JA Morkel, R Ashwin, L Balaji, M Muralitharan, S Tyagi.

Points Table after this match:

Team	M	W	L	P	N.R.R
Delhi Dare Devils	5	2	3	4	–0.919
Deccan Chargers	4	3	1	6	+0.450
Kings XI Punjab	4	1	3	2	–0.276
Knight Riders	5	2	3	4	–0.851
Mumbai Indians	4	3	1	6	+1.330
Chennai Superkings	5	2	3	4	–0.004
Rajastan Royals	4	1	3	0	–0.953
Royal Challengers	5	4	1	8	+1.331

Maxertainment 3: KKR stun last year runners up RCB

Sourav Ganguly-led Kolkata Knight Riders registered their second consecutive victory after they beat the Bangalore Royal Challengers by 7 wickets at Eden Gardens in Kolkata on Sunday. With this win they have now defeated the two finalists of the IPL season 2. Knight Riders made a blazing start of their innings in order to chase down the modest target set by Bangalore Royal Challengers. Openers Manoj Tiwary and Brad Hodge gave a tremendous start to the Knight Riders. Together they put up the opening stand of 101 runs.

Tiwary, after making his maiden IPL half-century, got out to van der Merwe’s delivery. Brad Hodge also became the victim of van der Merwe after scoring 50. Sourav who had failed to get any score on the board last time looked good today and his 6 off a Del Steyn delivery reminded his golden days. He was unlucky to get out while trying to hit the winning shot.

The Challengers, after a disastrous start, managed to set the target of 136 to Kolkata Knight Riders. Earlier, Knight Riders captain Sourav Ganguly won the toss and elected to field first against the Bangalore Royal Challengers at Eden Gardens in Kolkata on Sunday.

Charles Langeveldt and Angelo Mathews soon justified Ganguly’s decision and got the two quick wickets of SP Goswami and Manish Pandey. Goswami was caught by Ishant Sharma, while Pandey was bowled by Mathews.

After the two quick wickets, the Bangalore was looking to consolidate the innings but Murali Kartik gave them another jolt when he got the wicket of Virat Kohli. He was caught by Angelo Mathews. All eyes were on Rahul Dravid after the devastating start, but he too disappointed everyone and became the second victim of Angelo Mathews.

Robin Uthappa, who was trying to have a good partnership with Kallis, walked down the track and went for the lofted big hit but ended up nicking it behind the wicket, Mathews was the bowler.

RE van der Merwe was caught by Hodge and Mathews picked up his fourth wicket. However, Jacques Kallis remained not out on 65.

Preview: KKR vs RCB

Preview: KKR vs RCB

Kolkata Knight Riders VS Royal Challengers Bangalore

Venue: EDEN GARDENS, KOLKATA

Date: 14^th March, 2010

Time: 3pm

Kolkata Knight Riders
With ‘Miracle-Coach’ Dav Whatmore at the helm and Bengal’s dearest Dada running affairs on the pitch, the Knight Riders would want to put last season’s horrendous run behind them and start afresh. After winning the 1^st game, they will try to prove that the win was not just a fluke. Sourav who failed to score in the last match will try to shut the crtics’ mouths. Owais Shah and Angelo Mathews need to keep up the form they showed in the match against DC. Bowling seems to have improved thanks to the tips and tricks of the legendary Wasim Akram. Team’s bowling comprises of pace batteries like Ishant and Langaveldt and if they hold up, we may see a resurgence of the Dark Knights.
KEY PLAYERS: Sourav Ganguly, Angelo Mathews, Ishant Sharma, Charl langaveldt

Royal Challengers Bangalore

This year, Bangalore boast of a very strong team indeed, with fantastic hitters of the likes of Ross Taylor, Cameron White, Kevin Pietersen and new signing Eoin Morgan, and the dependability of South Africans Jacques Kallis and Mark Boucher. They also possess possibly the best of the local batting talent, in dynamic and ambitious youngsters Virat Kohli, Manish Pandey and Robin Uthappa, apart from stalwart Rahul Dravid. Skipper Anil Kumble leads the bowling attack that also boasts of the likes of test No.1 Dale Steyn. On paper they look strong enough to do an encore of last year’s final appearance. With an inspiring captain at the helm, one cannot rule out them going all the way.

KEY PLAYER: Jacques Kallis, Manish Pandey, Dale Steyn, Anil Kumble

SQUADS:

RCB: Jacques Kallis, Manish Pandey, Srivats Goswami, Vinay Kumar, Bhuvanesh Kumar, K P Appanna, Eoin Morgan, Akhil Balachandra, A Mithun, Steven Smith, Virat Kohli, Praveen Kumar, Robin Uthappa, Mark Boucher, Dale Steyn, Dillon Du Preez, Cameron White, Ross Taylor, Kevin Pietersen, Roelof van der Merwe, Rahul Dravid, Anil Kumble, S Sriram

KKR: Sourav Ganguly(C), Brendon McCullum, Chris Gayle, Brad Hodge, Owais Shah, Manoj Tiwari, Rohan Gavaskar, Chirag Pathak, Cheteswar Pujara, Harshad Khadiwale, Wriddhiman Shah, Angelo Matthews, Laxmi Ratan Shukla, Ganapati Vignesh, Ajit Agarkar, Varun Aron, Iqbal Abdulla, Eklakh Ahmed, Ashoke Dinda, Ajantha Mendis, Charl Langeveldt, Murali Karthik, Ishant Sharma

Preview: Royal Challengers Bangalore

The team along with the Deccan Chargers who stunned everyone by making it into the Finals of IPL 2 from the nearly the bottom of the table. The Malaya owned team was called as the a Test team and not fit to play T20 in 2008.

But they disproved it when Anil Kumble took Captaincy from Rahul Dravid and Ray Jennings became the coach of the Royal Challengers. The Royal Challengers beat the 2008 Champs, Rajasthan Royals in the first match with a splendid passion.

Now, lets focus on to the 2010 IPL for them and what they have in store. Vijay Malaya picked up the T20 specialist Eoin Morgan in the IPL auction bazaar.

Steven Smith too signed up for the Bangalore team who will add a boast to the batting.

The batting of the Challengers is superb and packed with Kallis, Uthappa, Kohli, Ross Taylor, Cameron White, Manish Pandey and Kevin Pietersen. But Kallis, Pietersen and Taylor’s performances will be the most counted.

There’s not much in the bowling attack. South African Veteran Dale Steyn, Praveen Kumar, Dillon du Preez, Roelof Vander Merwe and Kumble will form the formidable attack.

But the Challengers team are South African based which helped them to enter the finals last year. Surely, they will be tested in Indian conditions.

Unfortunately for Bangalore, Ross Taylor will miss 7 matches and Kevin Pietersen will miss out 5 matches. So, its given a good opportunity for the other foreigners in the line up to show their talents.

KEY PLAYERS: Virat Kohli, Jacques Kallis, Eoin Morgan, Dale Steyn.

SQUAD:

Jacques Kallis, Manish Pandey, Srivats Goswami, Vinay Kumar, Bhuvanesh Kumar, K P Appanna, Eoin Morgan, Akhil Balachandra, A Mithun, Steven Smith, Virat Kohli, Praveen Kumar, Robin Uthappa, Mark Boucher, Dale Steyn, Dillon Du Preez, Cameron White, Ross Taylor, Kevin Pietersen, Roelof van der Merwe, Rahul Dravid, Anil Kumble, S Sriram

Amla’s double ton powers Proteas to 558

Surely, the visitors are holding the driver’s seat in this game as Hasim Amla and Jacques Kallis continued their brilliant partnership. Kallis soon got out within half an hour but Hashim Amla’s 11 hour stand facing 473 balls and scoring 253 not out ensured the total of 558 for 6 when Greame Smith told enough and declared the inning.

With the three overs remaining in the day, the Indians were asked to bat it out to save their wickets and both the Delhi Dashers did so scoring 25 brisk runs in a span of 3 overs.

The Indian Middle order will be tested tomorrow as the South Africans have managed a great 558.

Amla marathon performance was superb as he sent out a strong word to Indians telling that don’t ever be casual of out side. The bearded Visitor’s class was superb and his timing excellent as the Indian bowlers were struggling to take his wicket.

AB De Villiers too supported him at the other end scoring 53 to add to the 4th wicket Partnership but failed to continue as he was holed by Sehwag’s spinning delivery chipping it to the point fielder.

Duminy, couldn’t find his form as he fell for a Leg before for just nine runs walking back to the hut. But Boucher supported the Double Centurion almost till the end scoring a cameo but fell to Zaheer Khan.

As Amla scored his 250, Greame Smith declared the innings.

It was another great day for the Visitors who rattled India.