On a roll with consecutive victories under their belt, a confident Rajasthan Royals will be bolstered by the return of in-form Australian all-rounder Shane Watson when they take on an unpredictable Kolkata Knight Riders in an Indian Premier League match in Jaipur on Friday.
Under the wily Shane Warne, Royals have commenced their IPL IV campaign in great style, comfortably defeating Deccan Chargers and Delhi Daredevils by eight and four wickets respectively in their first two games.
- Indian Premier-League 2011 coverage
Watson, who was in destructive form against Bangladesh in the just-concluded three-match ODI series, should further strengthen Rajasthan's batting as well as bowling.
Watson scored a mammoth 294 runs against Bangaldesh, which included a whirlwind 185 not out in the second ODI, including a world record of 15 sixes.
Rajasthan's batting was the cornerstone of their victories in the opening matches, with South African Johan Botha playing the lead role with unbeaten knocks of 67 and 39.
Watson, in all probability, will replace Shaun Tait and open the batting along with ever-dependable Rahul Dravid.
Warne is spoilt for choice as far as his foreign quota is concerned. Apart from himself, he has Tait, Watson, Johan Botha and Ross Taylor to choose from.
However, with only four foreigners allowed to feature in the playing eleven, he has a few problems up his sleeves as he, Botha and Taylor are certain to play on Friday.
In that scenario, pacer Tait, who touched the 157 kmph mark against Daredevils (fastest on Indian soil), and Jacob Oram will have to sit out.
Rajasthan's bowling attack was also impressive in the two matches, the likes of Amit Singh, Siddharth Trivedi and Tait all returning among the wickets.
Inspirational Rajasthan skipper Warne might have retired from international cricket four years ago, but the magic is still there in his fingers; he returned with economical figures of 2/21 and 2/17 in both the matches.
Apart from his bowling, Warne is a shrewd tactician and leads his team by example.
Knight Riders, on the other hand, have so far had a mixed bag, with one win (by nine runs against Deccan Chargers) and a loss (by two runs to Chennai Super Kings).
But consistency is something what Knight Riders would be eyeing when they take on Rajasthan Royals.
On the batting front, Manvinder Bisla and the in-form Jacques Kallis, who scored back-to-back half centuries, have been solid up the order but the middle and lower half, barring Manoj Tiwary, hasn't really been impressive.
However, the KKR batsmen made up for the Chennai mess with a strong performance against Deccan Chargers.
With big names like, skipper Gautam Gambhir, Yusuf Pathan, Tiwary, Eoin Morgan, Kallis and Dutchman Ryan ten Doeschate in their ranks, the Knight Riders boast of a formidable batting line-up.
But what KKR will be looking for is the right balance in their bowling attack, which lacks a bit of sting.
In the absence of an out-and-out pacer, Knight Riders depended on veteran Laxmipathy Balaji to deliver the goods up front in the last two matches but he disappointed.
However, young left-arm spinner Iqbal Abdullah has been a revelation with the new ball, picking four wickets so far and giving away just six runs per over.
But with the return of Australian speedster Brett Lee, all-rounder James Pattinson and Bangladesh captain Shakib-Al Hasan, their bowling department will have the much-needed boost.
Apart from Abdullah and Balaji, the Knight Riders also have utility bowlers in Jaydev Unadkat, Rajat Bhatia, Yusuf Pathan and Ten Doeschate at their disposal.
Teams (from):
Kolkata Knight Riders: Gautam Gambhir (c), Manvinder Bisla, Jacques Kallis, Manoj Tiwary, Yusuf Pathan, Eoin Morgan, Laxmi Ratan Shukla, Rajat Bhatia, Iqbal Abdulla, Laxmipathy Balaji, Sarabjit Ladda, Ryan ten Doeschate, Shreevats Goswami, Jaidev Unadkat, Pradeep Sangwan, Shami Ahmed, Shakib-al-Hasan, Brad Haddin, Brett Lee, James Pattison.
Rajasthan Royals: Shane Warne (c), Amit Singh, Swapnil Asnodkar, Stuart Binny, Johan Botha, Deepak Chahar, Ankeet Chavan, Aakash Chopra, Aditya Dole, Nayan Doshi, Rahul Dravid, Samad Fallah, Faiz Fazal, Ashok Menaria, Sumit Narwal, Jacob Oram, Pankaj Singh, Amit Paunikar, Ajinkya Rahane, Abhishek Raut, Dinesh Salunkhe, Pinal Shah, Shaun Tait, Ross Taylor, Siddharth Trivedi, Shane Watson, Harendra Yagnik.
