Preview by Vishaal Loganathan
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Hyderabad, Sep 25: Today's second match of champions League T20 will begin at 8.00pm Indian time. Kolkata Knight Riders will face England club Somerset.
Repeat or Revenge?
The last time these two met, Somerset walloped the Kolkata Knight Riders by a handsome margin but KKR seemed to be as happy as Somerset as they just managed to scrape through to the main event. Somerset will go in with the knowledge that they outplayed the Kolkata team when they met last time and will back themselves to repeat their performance while Kolkata will look for revenge. Kolkata have won 1 match and lost the other in the CLT20 while Somerset have kept a 100% win record.
Return of regular players
Both KKR and Somerset will know that the possible return of key players would give them a much better chance at an improved performance. Gautam Gambhir is likely to play for the Shah Rukh Khan owned team and his return will give the team much to cheer about while George Dockrell might return to play for the English T20 runners up.
Gautam Gambhir will take over from Jacques Kallis is he does return while George Dockrell will take Max Waller's place in the squad.
Battle of the left-arm spinners
Both the teams have a total of 5 left arm spinners and the result of the match might well be decided on how the team handle the left armers. Kolkata have Iqbal Abdulla and Shakib al Hasan who will spearhead the spin department,. Somerset have the likes of Murali Kartik, Roelof van der Merwe and George Dockrell who will do the bulk of the bowling and Somerset will hope Kartik brings in all of his domestic experience into play.
Players to watch out for
KKR – Ryan ten Doeschate: The all rounder was in superb form in the last game helping KKR scrape through the qualification phase with a stunning innings and KKR will hope he repeats the feat.
SOM – Peter Trego: The Somerset all-rounder showed tremendous ability with both bat and ball and was a constant thorn in KKR's flesh the last time they met. A repeat of his heroics may give Somerset the perfect start to the T20 campaign.
Playing Conditions: The match would be played on the same pitch which featured the earlier KKR-Somerset match a couple of days ago. The pitch would offer bounce and good carry and has a little for everyone.
Quotes:
Jacques Kallis: There is no way one can relax. You have to keep winning and that is what we are here for.
Somerset captain Alfonso Thomas: Happy that we won. We hope to keep the momentum going.
Teams:
Kolkata Knight Riders (From): Jacques Kallis, Manvinder Bisla, Jaidev Unadkat, Manoj Tiwary, Ryan ten Doeschate, Shakib Al Hasan, Shami Ahmed, Yusuf Pathan, Brett Lee, Iqbal Abdulla, Brad Haddin, Rajat Bhatia, Lakshmipathy Balaji, Shreevats Goswami, Gautam Gambhir
Somerset (From): Alfonso Thomas(c), Roelof van der Merwe, Peter Trego, Arul Suppiah, Steve Kirby, Craig Meschede, Murali Kartik, Gemaal Hussain, James Hildreth, George Dockrell, Adam Dibble, Nick Compton, Alex Barrow, Steve Snell(w), Chris Jones.
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