IPL7: Upbeat Knight Riders lock horns with Super Kings at home

Kolkata Having posted four wins on the trot and six overall the homecoming could not have come at a better time for Kolkata Knight Riders who are aiming to clinch the playoffs berth as they prepare to take on Chennai Super Kings in the Indian Premier League here todayWith this being the last lap of a whirlwind league phase that began in the UAE a team like Kolkata Knight Riders who relish the home conditions the slow track complemented by a raucous crowd will savour the homecoming more than anybody elseKolkata Knight Riders PTI Photo BCCIWhile the alwaysreliable wily spinner Sunil Narine 15 wickets and most economical 609 continues to be the most vital cog in their wheel its the emergence of explosive batsman Robin Uthappa that has contributed immensely to the teamConsider this Uthappas average in the India leg of this IPL is 5416 from six matches two halfcenturies and four 40plus knocks He has scored 422 from 11 matches of which 325 have come in the India legThe ploy to open the batting with Uthappa certainly has done wonders for the side while skipper Gambhir too has been contributing And they would heave a sigh of relief after seeing Ryan ten Doeschate and matchwinner Yusuf Pathans coolheaded unbeaten knocks to seal a sevenwicket win in Hyderabad in a lastover finish last nightThe senior Pathan was at his destructive best smashing two sixes and as many boundaries in his 27ball 38 while the Dutchman hit a six and a boundary with 10 required from the last over The win was important as it put Kolkata two points clear of Bangalore and four against Hyderabad in the threeway race for the fourth spot in the playoffsIn such a scenario Gambhir will be keen to guard the team against complacency as they take on twotime former champions Chennai the most consistent side in the Indian Premier League and who have virtually qualified for the playoffsChennai would be smarting from their home defeat to Royal Challengers Bangalore who kept their campaign alive after posting a fivewicket win Having posted eight wins from 11 secondplaced Chennai can afford to relax and even if they lose their remaining three games they may be through on net runrateDhoni always believes in having a settled unit and there has not been much chopping and changing David Hussey played his first match yesterday after he was included in the squad as cover for Brendon McCullum who is set to fly home for the birth of his babyThe fact is that Super Kings have not been bowled out even once in this tournament and their specialists bowlers Mohit Sharma and Ishwar Pandey have not been required to bat at all The new opening combination of Dwayne Smith and McCullum has been their high point in season seven when other teams have struggled to put on a consistent show at the topThe big hitting West Indian has been been Chennais gain and Mumbais biggest loss as Smith sits second in the runs tally with 449 from 11 matches with five 50s while the Kiwi opener has accumulated 352 runs including three half centuriesMcCullum who has a flight to New Zealand tomorrow is expected to play while Hussey will come in the middle order At the Eden Gardens track the three spin warriors of Kolkata Narine Shakib Al Hasan and Piyush Chawla will look to take the maximum advantage and it will be an interesting battle against Chennais long batting lineup that includes Smith McCullum Suresh Raina Hussey Ravindra Jadeja and DhoniWhile the eight overs of Narine and Shakib will be key the Chennai batters will look to go for the kill against ChawlaTeams fromKolkata Knight Riders Gautam Gambhir captain Robin Uthappa wk Manish Pandey Yusuf Pathan Ryan ten Doeschate Shakib Al Hasan Suryakumar Yadav Piyush Chawla Morne Morkel Umesh Yadav Sunil Narine Jacques Kallis Andre Russell Pat Cummins Chris Lynn R Vinay Kumar Manvinder Bisla Debabrata Das Kuldeep Yadav Sayan Mondal and Veer Pratap SinghChennai Super Kings Mahendra Singh Dhoni captain Dwayne Smith Suresh Raina David Hussey Ravindra Jadeja Mithun Manhas Ravichandran Ashwin Ishwar Pandey Mohit Sharma Samuel Badree Faf du Plessis John Hastings Matt Henry Ben Hilfenhaus Dwayne Bravo Ashish Nehra Baba Aparajith Pawan Negi Ronit More and Vijay Shankar