Kolkata Vs Delhi - Preview

A lot of fun and entertainment will unfold as the Kolkata team meets Delhi today evening. Kolkata appears in a better form and is on its way back in the tournament. Though the team suffered few defeats in past now it is on the way to win the games.

When the Virender Sehwag-led Delhi team meets Sourav Ganguly-captained Kolkata at the Eden Gardens, it will be the first ever meeting between the two teams in the ongoing tournament. The team that displays greater mental agility and resolve to win that team will have an upper edge.

Delhi has recently faced three devastating losses so it will be a bit difficult for Delhi to recover from the defeats. Delhi was brought down to earth first by Mumbai then by Chennai and on Monday by Rajasthan. On the other hand Kolkata team is riding on a crest of success. Kolkata was down in the dumps after four straight defeats but the team made a come back by beating Bangalore and Hyderabad.

Till now the Delhi team has depended extensively on its openers Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir. Today too much will depend upon these two batsmen. Other batsmen have so far proved less helpful. Delhi’s bowling line-up, especially the medium-pace attack, has a settled look. Good balling and fielding efforts will surely increase its chances to win the match.

Kolkata has strong and aggressive batsmen like Ganguly, David Hussey and Laxmi Ratan Shukla. All are in a superb form. So the home town seems to be stronger. The biggest star attraction of today will be Shoaib Akhtar.

It remains to be seen how the team’s think-tank will accommodate Shoaib Akhtar in the team. All the cricket fans are expecting a fine spell from Akhtar who may prove a match winner with his tremendous balling effort.

The fielding of Kolkata team is far better than the Delhi moreover Ganguly’s imaginative field placing is going to benefit Kolkata and put pressure on Delhi. Rain may play the spoilsport but let’s wait for the evening to watch the live action!

The teams (from):
Delhi: Virender Sehwag (Capt.), Gautam Gambhir, Shikhar Dhawan, A.B. de Villiers, Rajat Bhatia, Shoaib Malik, Dinesh Kartik, Glenn McGrath, Mohammad Asif, V. Yomahesh, Pradeep Sangwan, Farveez Maharoof, Mithun Manhas, Brett Geeves, Manoj Tiwary, Amit Mishra, Tillakaratne Dilshan.

Kolkata: Sourav Ganguly (Capt.), Aakash Chopra, Salman Butt, David Hussey, Laxmi Ratan Shukla, Tatenda Taibu, Debabrata Das, Ajit Agarkar, Ashok Dinda, Ishant Sharma, Umar Gul, Shoaib Akhtar, Murali Kartik, Wriddhiman Saha.