Kolkata Knight Riders V/S Hobart Hurricanes
1st Semi Final, Hyderabad
With the tournament nicely warmed up, The IPL champions Kolkata Knight Riders will
take on the Hobart Hurricanes in the first Semi Final of the Champions League 2014 at
Hyderabad. The Gambhir led KKR are in red hot form with 13 consecutive wins and have
been unbeaten in this Tournament . On the other hand the Hobart Hurricanes have
done reasonably with 3 wins out of 4 matches.
Pitch and Conditions
The Uppal track is a good T20 track with something in it for the spinners. Teams
batting second have fared better at the Uppal in this tournament. The side winning the
toss is likely to field first as the match is a 4pm start and the dew factor may play a
role during the second half of the match.
Kolkata Knight Riders
KKR have been the side to beat in this tournament notching up 4 wins in as many
matches.KKR have a good opening pair in Gambhir and Uthhapa, the latter being very
consistent at the top of the order. Suryakumar Yadav, Manish Pandey, Yusuf Pathan
and Andre Russell all have played their part at some point in the tournament except
the experienced Kallis who is yet to fire.
The bowling is well balanced with the spin trio of Chawla, Narine and the young Kuldeep
Yadav foxing the opponents with their variations .The pace bowling doesn’t play much
of a part in the KKR strategy with Russell,Yadav and Kallis making up for the seamers .
Also Yusuf Pathan has chipped in with his economical off spin at crucial junctures.
Hobart Hurricanes
The batting is a worry for the Hurricanes as only Blizzard and Malik have been
consistently among the runs. Dunk has had one good innings while skipper Paine has been
unable to make an impact with the bat.
The seam bowling seems well covered with Hilfenhaus, Laughlin, Bollinger and Mennie
bowling well. Doherty will have to bowl exceptionally well as he is the lone recognised
spinner along with the part time spin of Malik.
PS: This preview is written by intern Nipun Vinod Desai