| Scores | Upcoming | Results |
Kolkata: Kolkata Knight Riders would be looking to put their shock defeat against Kochi Tuskers behind and get their act together quickly when they take on Royal Challengers Bangalore in their IPL clash at the Eden Gardens on Friday.
Going into the match, the hosts will be little short on confidence after their spineless batting display on Wednesday night against Kochi outfit where they failed to chase a modest 133-run target.
Thus, it will a great test of character for Gautam Gambhir and company against Bangalore and the Knight Riders will look to come back to winning ways to consolidate themselves at the pole position.
Kolkata, having won three out of five games they have played so far, would have an upper hand against the Bangalore outfit, which lost three back-to-back matches before the previous game got abandoned due to rain.
But the Royal Challengers would be keen to draw confidence from the fact that in Twenty20, scheme of things change significantly in a matter of few big hits.
To their advantage, the team would be fresh as their last match against Rajasthan Royals was a washout and the two teams split points.
Moreover, inclusion of West Indies explosive opener Chris Gayle, ex-Knight Riders player, ahead of their clash against Kolkata team, may prove to be good for the team.
The 31-year-old Gayle, unsigned at the IPL auction last January, was snapped up by the Bangalore outfit to replace the injured Australian fast bowler Dirk Nannes.
"Gayle has arrived in India and will be with the team to Kolkata," Royal Challengers manager Avinaash Vaidhya said.
The West Indies big-hitter will certainly look to prove a point or two against his former team.
And with the likes of Tillakaratne Dilshan, the new Sri Lankan captain, South African AB de Villiers two prolific batters in the World Cup and Indian star Virat Kohli in their ranks, the batting line-up looks solid on paper.
They also boost of promising batsmen in Cheteshwar Pujara and Saurabh Tiwary but the Bangalore side is yet to click as a unit.
They failed in their chase against Chennai Super Kings and Deccan Chargers, while their batsmen came a cropper against Mumbai Indians to gift the Tendulkar's side an easy win.
Mayank Agarwal seems to be their weak link at the top as he has struggled so far, barring his 33 from 24 balls in the IPL opener against the Kochi Tuskers, which has been their only victory so far.
On the slow track of Eden Gardens, RCB skipper Daniel Vettori will look to take charge along with Indian speedster Zaheer Khan.
Kolkata, meanwhile, would be desperate to re-group. And as Gambhir rightly pointed out that their loss to Kochi would serve as a wake-up call for the middle order batsmen who are yet to be tested.
In Eoin Morgan and Yusuf Pathan, Knight Riders have a strong and explosive mix but the duo has yet to fire.
"We have got great finishers like Yusuf, Morgan. But somebody need to put their hands up at some point and do it for the side," Gambhir said.
Pathan had an injury while taking a catch against Tuskers and batted at no 7 with a runner. It remains to be seen if the big hitter is fit in time for Friday's crucial game.
Having played the same XI in last three matches, time may be ripe for the Knight Riders think-tank to ring in some changes.
Shreevats Goswami is still warming the bench with Manvinder Bisla opening the batting and doing the needful behind the stumps, while experienced Bengal campaigner Laxmi Ratan Shukla is yet to be tested fully.
Jacques Kallis, who has been their batting mainstay but the South African, after being dismissed cheaply in last two innings by a rising delivery, will surely look to make amends.
Stylish Bengal batsman Manoj Tiwary looked in fine nick in his few appearances and the skipper will surely want a big one from the promising Indian team fringe batsman.
Teams from:
Kolkata Knight Riders: Gautam Gambhir (capt), Jacques Kallis, Manvinder Bisla (wk), Manoj Tiwary, Yusuf Pathan, Eoin Morgan, Shakib-al-Hasan, Iqbal Abdulla, Rajat Bhatia, Brett Lee, Laxmipathy Balaji, Ryan ten Doeschate, Brad Haddin (wk), James Pattinson, Laxmi Ratan Shukla, Shreevats Goswami, Pradeep Sangwan, Shami Ahmed and Jaidev Unadkat.
Royal Challengers Bangalore: Daniel Vettori (capt), Mayank Agarwal, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Asad Pathan, Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers (wk), Saurabh Tiwary, Cheteshwar Pujara, Johan van der Wath, Ryan Ninan, Zaheer Khan, Chris Gayle, Mohammad Kaif, Sreenath Aravind, Arun Karthik, Raju Bhatkal, ANPR Fernando, Muralidharen Gautam, Abrar Kazi, Charl Langeveldt, Abhimanyu Mithun, Luke Pomersbach, Rilee Rossouw, Jonathan Vandiar.
Match facts
Friday April 22, 2011 (day/night)
Start time 16:00 local (10:30 GMT)
