Kolkata Hope to Leave Redbacks Red-faced

Hyderabad: Is the South Australian Redbacks' ploy of playing three specialist spinners in the Champions League backfiring on them? The strategy may have worked well from them in the Big Bash competition where the matches were played on bigger grounds. But here the smaller grounds make it more difficult for the bowlers as even a mishit may go for a six.

On Sunday, against a rampaging Jon-Jon Smuts, the Redbacks were at the receiving end of his willow as the Warriors tore the spin attack to shreds. Skipper Michael Klinger and coach Darren Berry will have to give a rethink on their strategy as they take on Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in their Group B match at the RJIC Stadium, on Tuesday night.

The way Yusuf Pathan smashed four consecutive sixes off part-time spinner Arul Suppiah will undoubtedly play on the mind of the Redbacks. The Knight Riders have a strong batting line-up and containing them will not be that easy.

Klinger admitted that his side didn't bowl well. "We gave loose deliveries too often," he said. "We normally execute very well with the kind of deliveries we want to bowl, but today they were hitting them," he said after his side suffered an embarrassing 50-run loss to the Warriors.

He, however, did not lay the entire blame on the bowlers. "They played better than us. There are no excuses. We did not execute our basic skills well and lost wickets regularly. The run rate was high and they did well to contain us," Klinger said.

South Australia will consider dropping one of their three spinners in favour of a seaming option. Daniels Harris and Daniels Christian combined to pick up 4 for 47 against Warriors, but the rest of the attack went at over ten runs per over in picking a solitary wicket. The Daniels might be pressed into service earlier on Tuesday.

The Knight Riders have tried Jaidev Unadkat and L Balaji as Lee's support seamer, but neither looked convincing in their respective outings. With the spin depth in their side, they might be better off benching both, provided Jacques Kallis can complete a full spell. His solitary over was pounded for 16 runs in the previous game, which is an area of concern.

Teams from

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

South Australia M Klinger (capt), CJ Borgas, DT Christian, TLW Cooper, CJ Ferguson, DJ Harris, TP Ludeman (wk), NM Lyon, AW O'Brien, GD Putland, AU Rashid, KW Richardson, CJ Sayers, JD Smith, SW Tait

Stats and trivia

• Jacques Kallis is one of only five batsmen to have made more than 100 runs in the tournament. All five played in the qualifiers too.

Match facts
Tuesday September 27, 2011 (day/night)
Start time 2000 local (1430 GMT)