Dubai: Will the Kings rule or the Knights have their day at Bengaluru’s M. Chinnaswamy Stadium? It’s the question playing on fans’ minds as Kings XI Punjab clash with Kolkata Knight Riders in the final of the seventh edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL).
For Kolkata, it was a memorable ride to the final after a few hiccups. Though they started off with a stunning victory over the defending champions Mumbai Indians in Abu Dhabi, they slipped up and at one stage looked like drifting away for an early exit. The fortunes of their skipper Gautam Gambhir were very similar to their team’s performance.
Starting off with three successive ducks in UAE, many wondered whether he deserved to even lead the team. Converting the failures as a stepping stone to success, both Gambhir and Kolkata staged a spectacular comeback. The positive vibes and fighting spirit in Gambhir has won him a recall to the Indian team and may even result in him lifting the IPL trophy. It will be a fairlytale story of a skipper who bit the dust in UAE and looked like pulling down the curtains on his international career.
If Kolkata is in the final, they owe a lot to Robin Uthappa, who stood out as the most consistent player and is now the proud owner of the orange cap with 655 runs. Their bowling too rose to the challenges and the final could very well be a contest between Kolkata’s top quality bowling attack versus Punjab’s high-class batting.
Punjab started off the campaign in style from UAE with Glenn Maxwell’s spectacular batting display. Though their initial victories were due to Maxwell’s one-man show, other batsmen too lived up to their class in the later matches. Virender Sehwag, striking form in the crucial qualifier on Friday with a memorable century, was like the icing on the cake.
The final will once again put to test not only Sehwag and Maxwell but also David Miller and skipper George Bailey’s abilities to thrash the bowlers. What makes the final exciting is Kolkata’s bowling that can put the brakes on even the most devastating batsmen. Wasim Akram as Kolkata’s bowling mentor has shaped Morne Morkel, Umesh Yadav, Sunil Narine and Shakib Al Hasan brilliantly for the challenge.
When a battery of class bowlers and master batsmen clash, a lot will depend on planning, starting from taking the correct decision right from the toss. This is where the Kolkata coach Trevor Bayliss and Punjab’s Sanjay Bangar’s tips will come into play. A final is often won by a team that meticulously executes its plan bravely and with confidence.
With both teams equally balanced, Twent20 cricket is bound to be at its best.
