Indian Premier League - IPL / Andrew Hughes / 15 March 2010 / 1

Different coach, different uniforms, different results. The purple-clad Knight Riders already have two wins on the board. On Tuesday night, the Chennai Super Kings enter the intimidating amphitheatre of Eden Gardens. Andrew Hughes looks ahead to the game.

Venue and Conditions

This pitch was used on Sunday for the game against Bangalore and proved to be a sluggish surface, offering some assistance for the spinners.

Team News

Kolkata are unlikely to make many changes, but if Shane Bond is ready to play after his trip from New Zealand, he is sure to be given his first IPL start, probably at Charl Langeveldt's expense.

Chennai may consider employing an extra spinner at Eden Gardens but in any event, burly seamer Manpreet Gony is likely to replace either Sudeep Tyagi or Lakshmipathy Balaji.

Match Odds

Of all the venues in this tournament, Eden Gardens is the place most likely to intimidate visitors. It was heaving for Sunday's opening game and we can expect the same on Tuesday. Their team look a canny, effective outfit, particularly with the ball. The Kolkata bowlers are adept at employing subtle variations and will make life hard for Chennai on this benign surface.

The visitors may feel that their poor top order showing against Deccan on Sunday was a blip and you would not expect another failure from Matthew Hayden. However, their seam bowling lacked penetration and they could leak plenty of runs here. Momentum is everything in this tournament and the home side would be worth backing at odds of [1.85] or higher to extend their winning run to three.

Top Batsman

The pick of the candidates to top score for Kolkata is Brad Hodge. An opener in form is always ideal for these markets and the Australian is probably more reliable than his partner Manoj Tiwary.

For Chennai, Matthew Hayden is an obvious choice, but he can be overlooked until he has found some form. Looking down the order, it is safest to plump for reliable captain M S Dhoni at odds of [4.5] or better.

Featured Market

It can take time for these multi-national teams to build an understanding and in five games to date, there have been nine run outs. Back 'Over 1.5' in the 'Total Match Run Outs' Market at [1.85] or better.

Trivia

There have been four riots at Eden Gardens, the latest in 1999 when Sachin Tendulkar was run out after colliding with Shoaib Akhtar.

Andrew Hughes says: Back Kolkata Knight Riders at [1.8] or better.

'.$sign_up['title'].'

'; } } ?>

(1)

1. ankit jain | 16 March 2010

   presence of shane bond could be drastic change &would be disastrous for chennai superkings

:

:

:

?

: