Defending champions Deccan, new-look KKR kick off IPL

By Rahul Bajaj
for Cricketain.com

Published: March 12, 2010

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Mumbai: It’s finally here! The much awaited third season of the Indian Premier League kicks off today with defending champions, Deccan Chargers, going head to head with a new-look Kolkata Knight Riders, who finished last in the second edition of the T20 league.

Deccan Chargers, who finished last in the inaugural season of the IPL, scripted a fairytale comeback under the leadership of former Australian wicket-keeper Adam Gilchrist to be crowned the IPL champions in the second season in South Africa, and Kolkata Knight Riders would be looking to draw inspiration from their feat.

Kolkata have made a complete overhaul to their team management with former Indian skipper, Sourav Ganguly, returning as captain and Dav Whatmore taking over as head coach. Legendary Pakistan fast bowler Wasim Akram has taken over the bowling coach duties. The team has also changed its colour, quite literally, going from black and gold to purple and gold. The changes came after the team finished last in the second season under the captaincy of Kiwi Brendan McCullum. John Buchanan, who was the coach of KKR in the first two seasons, was removed from the post after the disastrous campaign in South Africa.

“The Knight Riders had a controversial approach last year,” Gilchrist said of Kolkata’s multi-captaincy theory. “But I think they would be more settled this time. I expect them to play aggressively.”

With a majority of the overseas players yet to join their respective teams because of national duties, Kolkata would be missing the services of explosive West Indian batsman, Chris Gayle, and Kiwi Brendan McCullum in the early stages of the tournament. Their latest recruit in the IPL auctions last month, Kiwi speedster Shane Bond, would also join the team once the ongoing New Zealand-Australia ODI series finishes.

In the absence of these players, Kolkata would be depending heavily on Brad Hodge and Owais Shah to provide some solidarity in the middle order while Manoj Tiwary and Rohan Gavaskar will be the local players to look out for.

Deccan, meanwhile, are looking very strong in the batting department with Gilchrist, Herschelle Gibbs, Andrew Symonds and Rohit Sharma, all available. But their bowling looks fragile with new pace sensation Kemar Roach yet to join in. RP Singh has been out of favour in the Indian ranks, but he was the leading wicket-taker in 2009. Pragyan Ojha will be handling the spin department.

Kolkata, on the other hand, look stronger on the bowling front with Indian bowlers Ishant Sharma, Ajit Agarkar and Murali Kartik all available for selection despite Shane Bond missing from action for the first game.

The match would be played in Mumbai’s DY Patil stadium, after Hyderabad was stripped of hosting Deccan’s home games due to political unrest.

The squads:

Deccan Chargers: Adam Gilchrist (captain), Ashish Reddy, Anirudh Singh, Azhar Bilakhia, Herschelle Gibbs, Harmeet Singh, VVS Laxman, Monish Mishra, Pragyan Ojha, Dwaraka Ravi Teja, Rohit Sharma, RP Singh, Tirumalasetti Suman, Bodapati Sumanth, Andrew Symonds, Chaminda Vaas, Venugopal Rao, Arjun Yadav.

Kolkata Knight Riders: Sourav Ganguly (captain), Varun Aaron, Ajit Agarkar, Ashok Dinda, Eklak Ahmad, Rohan Gavaskar, Brad Hodge, Iqbal Abdulla, Murali Kartik, Harshad Khadiwale, Charl Langeveldt, Angelo Mathews, Ajantha Mendis, Chirag Pathak, Cheteshwar Pujara, Wriddhiman Saha, Owais Shah, Ishant Sharma, Laxmi Ratan Shukla, Manoj Tiwary and Ganapathi Vignesh.

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