Week 3 - Match 1 - Kolkata Knight Riders vs Deccan Chargers

Welcome to Eden Gardens. Home of the Kolkata Knights Riders.

Form

KKR - WW

DC - LL

Pitch Conditions: A rock hard pitch this week at Eden Gardens which will benefit the seamers early on in the match and the spinners later. Once a batsman gets in he will find scoring easier.

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Please post tactics below...

steyn will love this pitch

Grudge match here :P

i quite like the pitch i have for this match :p

defo gonna make changes to my batting for this game.

tahir and steyn will be crucial for me in this game

will have to think about the make up of my bowling attack in these conditions.
one thing is for sure,ishant will finally get a game and kallis will defo be back to counter steyn and also tahir if he is still in.

tahir will defo be in

Am I the only one who thinks Tahir is overrated?

in t20 he is class, but unproven at test level.

GG wrote:Am I the only one who thinks Tahir is overrated?

He still has to prove himself at the top level.
He is a very good bowler though but atm i wont rate him above Shakib,Swann,Bishoo,Ajmal,Afridi or Mendis.

shankythebiggestengfan wrote:

GG wrote:Am I the only one who thinks Tahir is overrated?

He still has to prove himself at the top level.
He is a very good bowler though but atm i wont rate him above Shakib,Swann,Bishoo,Ajmal,Afridi or Mendis.

no way is bishoo or shakib better than tahir.

Bishoo is in my squad although he is unlikely to be in the starting xi.i feel he is seriously underrated.his t20 record is just awesome.

I would rate Tahir below Swann and Ajmal certainly, and above Hasan. Pretty close regarding the other three

cricketfan90 wrote:no way is bishoo or shakib better than tahir.

Its hardly a surprise that you mentioned only those 2 as they are in my squad.

well how many t20is has he played for sa.
to compare him with a proven intl performer like shakib is laughable.
and as for bishoo,look at his t20 record.

shankythebiggestengfan wrote:

cricketfan90 wrote:no way is bishoo or shakib better than tahir.

Its hardly a surprise that you mentioned only those 2 as they are in my squad.

well how many t20is has he played for sa.
to compare him with a proven intl performer like shakib is laughable.
and as for bishoo,look at his t20 record.

he hasn't played any T20s for SA, but then again I'm not even sure SA have played a T20 since he became SA qualified. Just going by what I've seen from both of them, I'd rate him above Shakib fairly comfortably. Statistics aren't everything (or else Vaughan and Trescothick would never have played for England)

fair enough mfc but look at bishoo.15 matches,27 wkts.
anyways this will be my xi for the match(will post my tactics tomorrow)

Chris Gayle
Jacques Kallis
Gautam Gambhir
Manoj Tiwary
Eoin Morgan
Yusuf Pathan
Shakib Al Hasan
Bipul Sharma
Ryan Harris
Ishant Sharma
Pragyan Ojha

never said Tahir was better than Bishoo. From what I've seen they're pretty close, Bishoo has more variation in his flight, but Tahir has a better googly.

GG wrote:Am I the only one who thinks Tahir is overrated?

Finally!

I rate Bishoo, Ajmal, Vettori and Swann above him in T20s. Could be class in the future but not proven.

He certainly isn't on the level of your other SA bowler Steyn.

Toss will be interesting in this game.

I will bowl first probably.
And that XI of mine is only a probable XI not an official one.

BTW I never heard CF calling Tahir before he was in his team :;

shankythebiggestengfan wrote:I will bowl first probably.
And that XI of mine is only a probable XI not an official one.

BTW I never heard CF calling Tahir before he was in his team :;

huh?

cricketfan90 wrote:

shankythebiggestengfan wrote:I will bowl first probably.
And that XI of mine is only a probable XI not an official one.

BTW I never heard CF calling Tahir before he was in his team :;

huh?

He means you weren't bigging up Tahir before he was in your side.

yh i was, i have always rated tahir in t20 cricket.

my team will probably be up later on or early tomorrow.

Grudge match, shanky vs cf haha

That's what I said, haha

my team have been training extra hard this week

my team should be up later, im a bit busy sorting out my furious fantasy football team as well

Deccan chargers tactics...changed team this week due to new signings

1)Tillkaratne Dilshan (C)
2)Jason Roy
3)Manvinder Bisla (WK)
4)Chipli
5))Dave Hussey
6)Sohal
7)Shrikant Wagh
8)Dale Steyn
9)Imran Tahir
10)Sarfraz Ashraf
11)Abhimanyu Mithun

If i win the toss i will bat first. The pitch is hard so the bounce will be good to hit through. It may benefit seamers, but i feel that batting first will give my spinners a go in the 2nd half of the game, when it starts to turn

Dilshan and roy look to get me off to a positive start, see of the first few overs from the kkr seamers and then tear them apart as the innings goes on, Bisla and chipli can steady the ship if need be, with hussey, sohal and wagh being able to hit out towards the end of the innings, steyn can hit a long ball as well..

bowling..

Steyn (1,3,18,20)
Mithun(2,4,17,19)
Wagh(5,7,14)
Tahir(6,8,10,12)
Ashraf(9,11,13,15)
Hussey/Dilshan(16)

Steyn and mithun bowl first 4 overs and last 4 overs, Wagh first change to take pace off ball, with tahir and ashraf to bowl their 4 overs. Dilshan/hussey to bowl one over of the innings, in case the rate goes up, and they start to cruise..Steyn and mithun to bowl at the death..

pitch should turn 2nd innings

come on the chargers

what do people think of my side and tactics?


couldnt find room for ferguson again :/

I think you picked the right side for the conditions, KKR will come out strong though.

was tempted to go in with 3 out and out quicks, but i thought that wagh can bowl cutters and also i want to bat first and it will spin more as game goes on, so might have the right balance for once

I'll be honesty with you mate I don't think you'll win this game but with that side I guarantee you won't come last. Mind you toss could play a part in this game but I would still fancy KKR to win it.

i no i will prob lose this game, im hoping to win a few though..

Yeah exactly, really do doubt you will come last.

i wonder when shanky will post his tactics

My Official Team

Chris Gayle
Jacques Kallis
Gautam Gambhir(c)
Manoj Tiwary
Eoin Morgan(wk)
Yusuf Pathan
Shikhar Dhawan
Tim Bresnan
Ryan Harris
Ishant Sharma
Pragyan Ojha

EDIT:I have edited my team as I realised I had only 3 under 25 players

So Dhawan comes in for Nayar
Thats the only change.

is there gona be tactics to follow?

Toss:Bowl first

With Deccan batsmen's obvious weaknesses against quality seam bowling I have decided to go in with a seam heavy attack and decided to bowl first when the conditions will suit the seamers the more.I have got some quality spinners in my squad but thought seam would be the way to go against an inexperienced Deccan line up.By batting second I will be able to negate Steyn to an extent.They have got Tahir who is an excellent spinner but I have got some unbelievable players of spin.Make no mistake,Tahir is seriously good but the likes of Gayle,Kallis,Gambhir and Morgan and even Pathan have scored lots and lots of runs against better spinners than Tahir.
I am sorry but the other bowlers in DC Team are very ordinary.Mithun is a good f/c bowler but his T20 numbers are shocking.The rest are unknown and cant be expected to trouble batsmen of such calibre.

As far as Steyn is concerned,he will still be a threat even in the 2nd innings but he doesnt like being attacked at the start.I remember KP going after him early in the WT20 2010 and he ended up conceding 50 runs in his 4 overs.
Obviously attacking him doesnt mean mindless slogging but we will take calculated risks and treat each ball on merit rather than just trying to see him off.And Gayle and Kallis are perfectly capable players.
Gayle will again be the more aggressive of the two but that doesnt mean Kallis is a slouch and he has shown in the past that he can adapt to different situations.
The rest of the batting order is very much flexible depending upon the match situation.

Overall,I think my batting has enough quality in it to chase any score against the Deccan attack dependent heavily on 2 bowlers.

Bowling tactics will be up soon.

if it was a home game i would have backed myself to win.

Bowling Tactics

Harris and Ishant to open the bowling.They provide good variety between them.Harris swings the ball both ways at pace whereas Ishant bowls line and length and will try to awkward bounce from a good length on a rock hard surface.Bres will bowl first change and the ball will only be 4 overs old so he should still be able to swing it and he is an accurate bowler.It will not be easy for the Deccan with these 3 bowling in the first 8 overs on a pitch that will assist the seamers early on.Ishant will bowl out whereas Harris and Bres bowl 2 overs each.The middle overs will be bowled by Ojha and Kallis.Kallis should do well on this surface.Ojha wont get much turn since it is the 1st innings but we all know he is a very accurate bowler and has got clever changes of pace so he should be able to get through his overs economically and might pick up the odd wicket.
Harris and Bres will bowl at the death.
However I am flexible and if the pitch offers a bit of spin then Ojha will be used as an attacking option and Gayle and Pathan might be asked to bowl a few overs as well.

Overall I have a balanced bowling attack for this surface bowling first.

3 quality front line seamers plus a very good support seamer in Kallis.And then obviously a very good spinner in Ojha and a couple of more than competent part time spinners.

Overs Breakdown

Harris: 1,3,17,19
Ishant: 2,4,6,8
Bres: 5,7,18,20
Ojha: 9,11,13,15
Kallis:10,12,14,16

However as I said I am flexible and if there is anything in it for the spinners,I will give Gayle or Pathan a couple of overs in the middle and save Kallis for the slog overs if he is needed.

To be honest CF,I have a side for all the conditions.
If this was a turning track I would have called upon the likes of Shakib,Bishoo and the underrated Bipul Sharma not to mention Ojha who is already there whereas you only really have Tahir.

No offences mate but I think I have a better side than you in all sorts of conditions.
If you had a strong Indian contingent then it could have been a different story.

Sorry mate if you think I am being too harsh on your team.

I think you are Shanky, this is how the arguments start.

Sometimes best just not to say anything.

the likes of chipli, sohal and shrikant wagh are underrated

dhawan i feel is overrated, and pathan is hugely incosistent.

lets not take attention away from the thread, lets keep on topic

shankythebiggestengfan wrote:To be honest CF,I have a side for all the conditions.
If this was a turning track I would have called upon the likes of Shakib,Bishoo and the underrated Bipul Sharma not to mention Ojha who is already there whereas you only really have Tahir.

No offences mate but I think I have a better side than you in all sorts of conditions.
If you had a strong Indian contingent then it could have been a different story.

Sorry mate if you think I am being too harsh on your team.

your entitled to your own opinon