Kolkata ready to pounce on struggling Rajasthan
Match facts
Saturday, March 20
Start time 1600 (1030 GMT)
Big picture
The first week could hardly have been worse for Rajasthan Royals. They have lost three matches in a row, lost two important overseas players to injury. To make things worse, a day after their abject capitulation at the Chinnaswamy Stadium, Warne has the added worry of monitoring the fitness of key allrounder Shane Watson, who has picked up a strain to his right hip in New Zealand. Their batting looks overly reliant of the brutal hitting of Yusuf Pathan, who was kept quiet by Royal Challengers Bangalore with a barrage of short deliveries. Warne has urged his fans to not lose faith in the team, but what he needs is more from his players, both the Indian ones and the foreign recruits. Questions are already being raised over the strange buys ahead of this season, and those won't go away unless Michael Lumb and Damien Martyn start delivering.Kolkata Knight Riders have had a more satisfactory week. There was a limp defeat to Chennai Super Kings in their previous game, but they already have wins over both of last year's finalists. With Chris Gayle adding to the batting firepower, and lining up against a demoralised Rajasthan, Kolkata will be eyeing a third victory. One thing that will worry captain Sourav Ganguly is the bowling at the death; Kolkata looked out of ideas when MS Dhoni went on an onslaught to double Chennai's score in the final six overs.
This will be Ahmedabad's second IPL match; the first one was blighted by an army of moths which irritated both Warne and Virender Sehwag. The Gujarat Cricket Association is fighting the problem by using fogging machines to reduce the number of insects that are attracted by the floodlights, and say the problem will also be lesser since the match is beginning at 4pm, unlike the previous one which had a late start.
Team talk
Shane Warne has plenty of headaches when it comes to picking his side. While the bowling can't be blamed for Thursday's defeat to Bangalore, fast bowler Morne Morkel repeatedly gifted runs away by bowling on the leg stump, which might make Rajasthan repose faith in Shaun Tait's pace again. Also, both Lumb and Martyn were scratchy in their IPL debuts; one of them should make way for Australian Adam Voges, who also provides the option of a few overs of left-arm spin.For Kolkata, the return of Gayle means Owais Shah could be sidelined, though the England batsman has done little wrong in the tournament so far. Rohan Gavaskar was picked ahead of Cheteshwar Pujara in the previous game, and it remains to be seen whether Kolkata persist with that policy on Saturday. With Ajit Agarkar and Charl Langeveldt still recovering from injuries, no changes are likely to the bowling line-up.
Previously…
Rajasthan 3 Kolkata 1Rajasthan won both matches in the first season comfortably - by 45 runs at home, and six wickets at Eden Gardens. In 2009, they needed Kamran Khan's nerveless Superover to win, but were knocked out of the tournament with a four-wicket defeat after heroics from Langeveldt and Laxmi Ratan Shukla.
In the spotlight
Chris Gayle is one of the most destructive batsmen around, and the Rajasthan bowlers will have a tough time keeping him quiet. His inclusion is also likely to push Brad Hodge down to the middle order, adding solidity of the batting.
After unexpectedly guiding Rajasthan to the title in the first season, Shane Warne received plenty of plaudits for his leadership. There can be few bigger captaincy challenges he has faced that trying to lift this side after a string of morale-sapping defeats, and in the absence of several of his game-changing players.
Prime numbers
- Left-arm spinner Murali Kartik has been one of Kolkata's most dependable bowlers; his IPL economy-rate of 6.50 is the fourth best, behind only Muttiah Muralitharan, Harbhajan Singh and Lasith Malinga
- One reason Rajasthan are bottom of the table is that they have taken only nine wickets in three matches
Chatter
"I don't know what the final decision will be but given the opportunity I would like to make it memorable as I will be playing in front of my own people here."Kolkata batsman Cheteshwar Pujara looks to make an impact on home territory
Siddarth Ravindran is a sub-editor at Cricinfo