KKR Living Dangerously Against Somerset

Hyderabad: After living dangerously against the Auckland Aces in their opening Pool A match on Monday night, Kolkata Knight Riders will be keen on a much improved performance as they take on Somerset in the last game at the RJIC Stadium, on Wednesday night.

With two points under their belt, the Knight Riders are sitting pretty and a win will help them top the pool. That obviously will be the priority and they do have the wherewithal to put it across a depleted English side.

But they will have a lot of work to do and iron out some wrinkles if they hope to make an impact in the tournament later on. Gautam Gambhir's absence was felt as the Knight Riders botched up a blazing start to finish at a poor 121 against the Aces. This is an area that coach Dav Whatmore will have to address as the middle order cannot afford to have another off day.

The positive aspect of the Knight Riders' two-run win over the Aces was the way the bowlers responded to the challenge. They never let the run rate dip and maintained pressure on the batsmen right through the innings, Rajat Bhatia being the most outstanding of KKR bowlers.

He used the pace of the wicket admirably and denied the batsmen the chance to flex their arms. Bhatia's lack of pace has never hurt his cause as he does make a virtue of his weakness.

But it was their fielding that stood out with Brett Lee leading from the front. It was a sight to see him diving and throwing himself at every ball and deny the Aces some valuable extra runs. The Knight Riders will be keen that they put up another commendable performance on the field against Somerset.

Teams from

Kolkata Knight Riders JH Kallis (capt), L Balaji, R Bhatia, MS Bisla (wk), G Gambhir, SP Goswami, BJ Haddin (wk), Iqbal Abdulla, B Lee, YK Pathan, Shami Ahmed, Shakib Al Hasan, RN ten Doeschate, MK Tiwary, JD Unadkat

Somerset AC Thomas (capt), AWR Barrow, NRD Compton, AJ Dibble, GH Dockrell, JC Hildreth, CR Jones, M Kartik, SP Kirby, CAJ Meschede, SD Snell (wk), AV Suppiah, PD Trego, RE van der Merwe

Match facts
Wednesday September 21, 2011 (day/night)
Start time 20:00 local (14:30 GMT)