Knight Riders look to sign off on a high

Already assured of a play-offs berth, Kolkata Knight Riders would aim to sign off their IPL league engagements on a high when they take on laggards Pune Warriors on Saturday.

Gautam Gambhir’s KKR are currently second on the table with 19 points from 15 matches and have been among the most consistent performers in the IPL, having won nine of their 15 league games so far.

The side has a power-packed batting line-up boasting of an in-form Gambhir, the unpredictably explosive Brendon McCullum, the ever-reliable Jacques Kallis and Manoj Tiwary in the top half.

Intimidating bowling

Their bowling attack too looks intimidating with a fine mix of pace and spin.
In their last match against Mumbai Indians, mystery spinner Sunil Narine single-handedly won them the game with an outstanding effort of four for 15 in 3.1 overs.

Pace spearhead Brett Lee missed the previous game but is expected to be back even though Laxmipathy Balaji did very well, conceding just 11 runs in his four overs that fetched him a couple of wickets as well.

Pune, on the other hand, are a team in disarray. The second-from-bottom side was handed a sound thrashing by Royal Challengers Bangalore in the previous match.
The team, which is being led by Steve Smith after an out-of-form Sourav Ganguly was ‘rested’, has been struggling to click as a unit.

The batting line-up is brittle and even Australian captain Michael Clarke’s entry has failed to lift the spirits.

Barring Angelo Mathews, Pune also don’t have a bowler worth talking about with most of them leaking runs and failing to grab any wickets.

From the look of things, KKR are expected to sail through but Pune would aim to prove the naysayers wrong.