Rajasthan Eyes Ninth Victory!

Ganguly’s hopes were washed away by rain and later by Chennai team on Sunday. The thunderstorm blew away Kolkata’s chances to win over Chennai at Eden Gardens. Now the team has got another jolt with the news that speedster Shoaib Akhtar is down with a knee injury.

Today they are facing the top team of the league- Rajasthan. On the eve of such a crucial match if Ganguly finds Akhtar sitting away from the ground that will surely hit the morale of the captain and the team as well!

Royals are eyeing their ninth win and Kolkata outfit will be struggling to dig their way towards the semis! Kolkata needs to win the remaining three games and wait for other results to see whether it can make it to the knockout stage.

On the other hand, Warne & Co. are in the topmost spirits in the ongoing league! They have already shown what a well-trained and high-spirited team can do to blow the rivals.

The batting, led by Graeme Smith (301 runs) and Shane Watson (333) with good support from Yusuf Pathan and Swapnil Asnodkar is going to rock again today! All the Rajasthan players have served the side well so far! The bowling side is also strong with Shane Warne (14 wickets), Watson (12) and Sohail Tanvir (11) who all have excelled with the ball.

Kolkata’s woes are not going to end here rather they will have to come up with a good opener partnership. Their inconsistent batting has taken the team towards its downfall. The weakest link in the team has been the performance of the top order with the team still searching for openers.

Salman Butt’s first fifty of the tournament on Sunday must have relaxed Ganguly, but to win today’s match another successful opener is required. The confused Captain Ganguly tried his seventh opening combination on Sunday. Let’s see what new experiment is conducted today on the pitch!

Much will depend on the batting of David Hussey and skipper Sourav Ganguly. Both will have to be at their best to put Rajasthan under pressure and to come up with match winning total.

The teams (from):
Rajasthan: Shane Warne (Capt.), Graeme Smith, Yusuf Pathan, Swapnil Asnodkar, Mohammad Kaif, Shane Watson, Sohail Tanvir, Munaf Patel, Siddharth Trivedi, Ravindra Jadeja, Niraj Patel, Kamran Akmal, Younis Khan, Taruvar Kohli, Dinesh Salunkhe and Pankaj Singh.

Kolkata: Sourav Ganguly (Capt.), Aakash Chopra, Salman Butt, David Hussey, Wriddhiman Saha, Ajit Agarkar, Shoaib Akhtar, Umar Gul, Iqbal Abdullah, Murali Kartik, Ishant Sharma, Ashok Dinda, L.R. Shukla, Md. Hafeez, T. Taibu, Debabrata Das, Ajantha Mendis.