Daijiworld Media Network

Bangalore, Apr 11: Welcome to a double header day. Defending champions Kolkata clash with hosts Bangalore in the first game. Tough to say who the favourites are - Bangalore are a strong side at home but Kolkata have some firepower as well, as the tag of 'defending champions' suggests. Brendon McCullum is fit to play, but it remains to be seen if he will get a game; Kolkata have 4 formidable foreigners in Kallis, Morgan, Brett Lee and Sunil Narine. Bangalore are likely to remain unchanged - Zaheer is still not back to full fitness.

The hosts are fresh from their home win against Hyderabad while Kolkata need to quickly forget memories of their loss at the hands of Rajasthan. The good news for Kolkata though is that they have a fully fit Brendon McCullum who was dismissed under 50 only three times in his last 9 international outings. But will he get to play? One feels it is going take some serious thinking to change the team combination. Stay tuned, the toss is coming up your way shortly...

Bangalore have won the toss and elected to field

Virat Kohli: 'We have decided to bowl first, just a little bit of grass on the wicket, any early moisture we'll try to use it to get early wickets and put them under pressure. Kolkata are a strong side, they won the league last year. It will be great to get a win tonight and make the local crowd happy on Ugadi. We have made one change, KL Rahul replaces Murali Kartik in the side. We are eager to play this game. Hopefully we'll pull this off.'

Narine : Gautam Gambhir: 'We were anyway looking to bat first, yes a happy toss to lose. People have asked us whether we'll play well on bouncy tracks and I am sure we didn't win the tournament last time batting on only on slow wickets. We didn't play well as a batting unit against Rajasthan, we want to win this game and hopefully we'll do well. We have a couple of changes in the side, Ryan McLaren replaces Brett Lee and Laxmi Shukla makes way for Pradeep Sangwan.'

Teams:

Bangalore (Playing XI): Mayank Agarwal, Chris Gayle, Virat Kohli(c), AB de Villiers, Moises Henriques, Lokesh Rahul, Arun Karthik(w), Vinay Kumar, Jaidev Unadkat, RP Singh, Muttiah Muralitharan

Kolkata (Playing XI): Manvinder Bisla(w), Gautam Gambhir(c), Jacques Kallis, Eoin Morgan, Manoj Tiwary, Ryan ten Doeschate, Yusuf Pathan, Rajat Bhatia, Pradeep Sangwan, Shami Ahmed, Sunil

Preview:

After starting off the season with a tight win against Mumbai and a loss in the Super Over to Hyderabad, Bangalore turned the tables in grand style as they defeated Hyderabad in the return clash by seven wickets. Kolkata, after starting off with a thumping win over Delhi, lost to Rajasthan in their second match by 19 runs.

Bangalore have four points with both victories coming for them at home and will look to build upon this great start. Meanwhile, Kolkata will look to bounce back after their hiccup against Rajasthan and put in a dominant show.

Bangalore

Bangalore have no major injury concerns in their team but it is the form of some of their players which might be a cause for concern. In the match against Hyderabad, Dilshan was dropped due to poor form and AB de Villiers was picked in the squad and Bangalore are likely to go in with the same side against Kolkata.

In form player: Virat Kohli - The Bangalore batting is usually associated with the destructive prowess of Chris Gayle. There is a saying that 'If Gayle goes, Bangalore fizzle out'. However, Kohli shattered that myth in the match against Hyderabad when he smashed a whirlwind unbeaten 93 off 47 balls. Kohli's sublime timing and clean ball striking dazzled the Bangalore crowd and it brought back memories of the superb form that he showed in the limited overs format in the previous year. Thus, Bangalore will feel that if Gayle goes early, there is Kohli to steady the Bangalore batting.

Team form: Won against Mumbai by 2 runs, lost the one-over eliminator to Hyderabad by five runs, won against Hyderabad by seven wickets.

Probable four foreigners: Chris Gayle, AB de Villiers, Muttiah Muralitharan, Moises Henriques

Hit: Chris Gayle is, without a shadow of doubt, a colossus in the T20 format. He has modified his playing style to such an extent that it makes him even more dangerous. He started off slowly against Mumbai but exploded later on to score a breath-taking 93. However, his weakness against spin early on has made him vulnerable and he departed cheaply to Hanuma Vihari in the second match against Hyderabad. In the return leg, Gayle held firm against the Steyn-Gun but departed to a loose shot. However, Gayle has had few failures in this competition but once he gets going, no force can stop him.

Miss: Mayank Agarwal is an aggressive player who has chipped in the past with a couple of wonderful cameos for Bangalore. However, his tendency to be over-aggressive has led to his downfall. In the first match against Mumbai, he departed to a poor shot as he tried to be aggressive against Jasprit Bumrah. In the first game against Hyderabad, he struggled to get going as Dale Steyn cleaned him up for 7. After getting off to a good start in the return leg, Agarwal tried one shot too many as he departed for a breezy 29. Agarwal has the potential to make big scores and one hopes that he can keep a calm head as the tournament progresses on.

Kolkata

Team News: Kolkata started off in fine fashion by thumping Delhi in the first match. However, their batting order looked fragile against some disciplined bowling from Rajasthan. Only Eoin Morgan showed some grit by scoring a fifty but the rest of the batting floundered. There is still no news regarding the fitness of Brendon McCullum and his availability for the match against Bangalore is uncertain.

In form player: Eoin Morgan - After hardly getting a game last year, Eoin Morgan stamped his class with some wonderful batting. In the game against Delhi, Morgan showed a cool head as he helped Kolkata cross the line. He was the last man standing in the game against Rajasthan as he took the fight to the opposition. His fifty kept Kolkata in the hunt but he could not carry on. With Morgan in prime form in the lower-middle order, Kolkata's batting line-up has received a tremendous boost.

Team form: Won against Delhi by six wickets, lost to Rajasthan by 19 runs.

Probable four foreigners: Jacques Kallis, Eoin Morgan, Brett Lee and Sunil Narine

Hit: Sunil Narine has continued his fine form from the last year as he flummoxed many of the batsmen. He started off in fine fashion as he started off with 4/13 against Delhi. In the second match, he snapped up 2/28. His accuracy and economical bowling makes him a difficult proposition for any batsman. Narine is currently the leading wicket-taker so far in this year's competition and he is the trump card in the team.

Miss: Yusuf Pathan was brought for 2.1 million US Dollars in the 2011 Auction. However, he has had a torrid time with the bat. In the previous year, Yusuf managed just 194 run at an average of 19 and it is no different this year. After starting off with a scratchy 18 in the first match, Yusuf played a poor shot as he departed for a second ball duck against Rajasthan. Yusuf will need to desperately turn his form around if he has to silence his critics.

Head to Head: Bangalore - 5 Kolkata - 5

Quotes:

Virat Kohli was happy with the way Bangalore bounced back in the game against Hyderabad - 'I told them not to feel too disappointed with the last result. We knew we could make a comeback.'

CB's pick: Bangalore: In the previous encounter between these two teams last year at Bangalore, Kolkata got the better of the hosts by 42 runs. L Balaji was the star of the show with 4/18 as they managed to keep Gayle and Kohli under check. Both these teams are equal on paper and predicting a clear winner will be hard. However, Bangalore have momentum on their side after their convincing win over Hyderabad and they will go all out against Kolkata.