Captains in the limelight as Knight Riders face Super Kings

Kolkata: It will be billed as the tale of two captains when the in-form Kolkata Knight Riders take on Chennai Super Kings at the Eden Gardens tonight.

The change of jersey colour has come with the change of fortunes for the Knight Riders as they sit atop the points table with two wins from two games.

Chennai, on the other hand, will be smarting from a defeat in their opening game against the Chargers.

The Knight Riders seemed to have shaped up well in the first two games. While their bowling was good from the word go, their batting at the top order was a bit wobbly in the first match.

By the second game, they had sorted that out as well and openers Manoj Tiwary and Brad Hodge showed their mettle against the Bangalore outfit.

Scratchy

Kolkata will be hoping that they carry on their form. Even though Sourav Ganguly looked a bit scratchy during his short innings on Sunday, Mahendra Singh Dhoni will be aware that the Prince of Kolkata hardly takes time to shift gears. Angelo Mathews and Owais Shah have been in fine form and young Cheteshwar Pujara has just the right technique to make a mark on the Chennai bowlers.

The hosts' bowling is also looking good except for the unavailability of the fifth bowler, a role that was played by Ganguly, Hodge and Rohan Gavaskar in the previous game. Ishant Sharma and Charl Langeveldt are in the zone and Mathews has been the great find for Kolkata so far. But Kolkata's only worry going into Tuesday's game will be the fifth bowling option. Four overs of loose bowling could cost them the game especially as Chennai has a strong batting lineup.

Smarting

Chennai, smarting from an unexpected defeat in their opener, have less than 48 hours to regroup.

Except skipper Dhoni and Albie Morkel, none of the other batsmen really troubled the Chargers. Kolkata's think-tank would have closely followed the game and a lot depends on the batting form displayed by Matthew Hayden and Suresh Raina.

The bowling too remains a big worry for Chennai. Morkel was carted all over and was unable to control the new ball.

Forgery: fake ticket gang busted

Three people were arrested yesterday for selling fake Indian Premier League (IPL) tickets in Kolkata, police said. "Two men, Sarfaraz Ahmad and Mohammad Faiyaz, were picked up from College Street area by the city police's detective department while another offender Mirajul Haq was held from Keshab Chandra Street locality," a senior Kolkata Police officer said

Sources said Haq was the owner of a digital printing shop where Ahmad and Faiyaz had forged the IPL tickets. Police said two more people were also held for interrogation. "They made 1,000 fake digital printouts of IPL tickets. They also forged the IPL hologram. We have seized some tickets from them and are now trying to confiscate the rest of fake tickets," the officer said.

Schedule

• 2.30 pm: Kings' XI Punjab vs Royal Challengers Bangalore (Bangalore).
• 6.30 pm: Kolkata Knight Riders vs Chennai Super Kings (Kolkata)
• Live telecast on Cricone channel