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- Kolkata Knight Riders vs Delhi Daredevils – Match 1 – Preview – IPL 2013 #IPL6 #IPL2013
- IPL not a comeback platform, says Gautam Gambhir #IPL6 #IPL2013
- Shane Watson an asset for Rajasthan Royals : Rahul Dravid #IPL6 #IPL2013
- Virender Sehwag doubtful for Delhi Daredevils opening tie against Kolkata Knight Riders #IPL6 #IPL2013
- IPL 2013 Opening Ceremony Live Streams – Where to watch online #IPL6 #IPL
| Kolkata Knight Riders vs Delhi Daredevils – Match 1 – Preview – IPL 2013 #IPL6 #IPL2013 Posted: 02 Apr 2013 05:09 AM PDT Eyeing a repeat of their success last season, Kolkata Knight Riders will open their title defence with a clash against a depleted Delhi Daredevils in the Indian Premier League match at Kolkata on Wednesday. Expectations will be high from the home side as they would aim to become only second team to win back-to-back titles. Only Chennai Super Kings have won consecutive trophies (2010 and 2011). For Delhi, who are yet to win the title, it would be a season to make amends as they look at life without English swashbuckler Kevin Pietersen, who has been ruled out for the entire tournament due to a knee injury.
Delhi will also miss out on explosive Kiwi batsman Jesse Ryder who was to begin his USD 300,000 contract before a brutal assault in a Christchurch bar left him hospitalised. Last season’s Purple cap holder, Albie Morkel (25 wickets), who bowled Titans to a semis place in the Ram Slam T20 Challenge in the South Africa domestic cricket, will also miss out on the opener. And if that was not enough, Virender Sehwag is also a doubtful starter for Wednesday’s tournament-opener as he is down with back spams. “He is having back spasm. We have no idea when he’s joining the side the side. We will take a call after he’s here,” coach Eric Simons said. Having recovered from jaundice, KKR skipper Gautam Gambhir will be eager to start on a winning note under conditions best suited to them. It would be an important season for the India opener, who went through a rough patch and was discarded for the four-Test Australia series. The left-hander would be keen to be back among runs. Among the foreign recruits, KKR will miss Brendon McCullum, who is down with a hamstring problem, while the recently-married Shakib Al Hasan is yet to report to the side. West Indian mystery spinner Sunil Narine, the second leading wicket-taker behind Morkel with 24 scalps, was instrumental in KKR’s success last season. KKR will now hope to unleash another ‘mystery’ spinner in Lankan offie Sachitra Senanayake in the upcoming season. Jacques Kallis will lend experience to the middle order, while the home grown players of Laxmi Ratan Shukla, Manoj Tiwary, Manvinder Bisla and Debabrata Das would also come in handy. KKR also have a balanced pace-spin attack. Brett Lee, who will double up as a bowling mentor in absence of Wasim Akram, will lead the pace attack with fellow Aussie James Pattinson. Laxmipathy Balaji, who was most economical last season, will add variety to the attack along with the part-timers in Rajat Bhatia and Shukla. Besides Narine and Senanayake, the team also has Indian left-arm spinner Iqbal Abdulla, who though would face competition for a place in the XI. If the absence of the big names was not enough, the Daredevils would have to deal with the poor form of David Warner and Virender Sehwag as both of them would look to get into their rhythms. Skipper Mahela Jayawardene is coming from an injury lay-off and he too would look to get into the groove sooner. In such a scenario, it’s the exuberance of U-19 winning skipper Unmukt Chand, who has two successive centuries for Delhi in the just concluded Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, that would come to fore. That Yadav and Pathan are coming back after injuries would be a point of concern. In the sixth season, nine teams will battle it out in a total of 76 matches, over a period of seven weeks with summit clash slated for May 26. Rajasthan Royals were the first champions, in 2008. Deccan Chargers won the title in 2009, when the tournament was played in South Africa. Chennai Super Kings won back to back titles in 2010 and 2011 while Kolkata Knight Riders scaled the summit last year.  |
| IPL not a comeback platform, says Gautam Gambhir #IPL6 #IPL2013 Posted: 02 Apr 2013 03:30 AM PDT
“I don’t play for individuals but for a team called KKR. I am a part of the team which is the defending champion. I don’t see IPL as my comeback platform,” Gambhir told media persons ahead of KKR’s opening IPL encounter against Delhi Daredevils (DD) Wednesday at the Eden Gardens. Gambhir said his team, being the defending champions, was not under pressure. Rather the tag gave them the confidence to play fearless cricket. “Being the defending champion doesn’t bring pressure, rather it gives you more confidence. We have got the monkey off our backs because in the last five years it was said KKR was more popular outside the field, but with the championship we have proved we can play good cricket on the field as well. This time we can play some fearless cricket. The tag of defending champions will give us more confidence than pressure,” said Gambhir.
The skipper also refused to give much importance to the Eden pitch but hoped to start the tournament on a winning note. “Hopefully the Eden track will be lucky for us this time because we have not been able to put points on our table when it comes to our first match. So, we hope to turn the table this time around,” added Gambhir. He also said that the team was unperturbed by the absence of hard hitting batsman Brendon McCullum due to injury, as there were many quality players to replace him.  |
| Shane Watson an asset for Rajasthan Royals : Rahul Dravid #IPL6 #IPL2013 Posted: 02 Apr 2013 03:00 AM PDT
“We were hampered by injuries to our main bowlers Shaun Tait, Kevin Kooper and Sreesanth. Moreover, Shane Watson was not available for most of the matches and that meant that at times the responsibility of bowling death overs was shouldered by rather inexperienced bowlers,” Dravid, who will also coach the side, said. Dravid hinted that Shane Watson might get to bowl in the tournament but added that the decision lies remains with the Aussie all-rounder. “I feel at some point of time he will bowl but he will have to decide himself. He is such an imposing player and a person that his presence alone is great for us. He is an asset for us whether he bowls or not. He will be reaching Delhi on the morning of April 6 and would miss the first match (against Delhi Daredevils) but would be available for the rest,” Dravid said.
“We had to pay price for that but this time we are better equipped. In the auctions, we went for Fidel Edwards and James Faulkner under our backup plans,” Dravid said after the launch of official fan wear collection of the team. “Edwards can generate good pace like Tait and Australian youngster James Faulkner has been doing well in this version of cricket. Sreesanth too is fit and available. He has been bowling very well at the nets and practice matches. He is eager to prove himself and that is why he slogged in the nets even after the practice match. So this time we won’t be facing the heat in death overs,” said the skipper. Former Indian skipper, however, did not reveal who will open with Ajinkya Rahane. “Yes, there might be some thinking but that also means that we will have more options. Ajinkya Rahane and I did a pretty good job at the start. We are planning out strategies which cannot be divulged here,” he said. Dravid did not seem too concerned about the poor-form of Rahane and Watson in the last Test series. “Who says they are in bad form? I don’t want to “jinx” Ajinkya. He has been batting very well in the nets and the practice matches, and Shane too can bounce back any time,” Dravid, who scored 462 runs, including two half-centuries in the previous edition of the tournament, asserted.  |
| Posted: 02 Apr 2013 02:29 AM PDT
“He is having back spasm. We have no idea when he’s joining the side the side. We will take a call after he’s here,” coach Eric Simons said hinting that the team is prepared to play without the swashbuckling opener. The team will also miss out on last season’s Purple cap holder Albie Morkel, who bowled Titans to a semis place in the Ram Slam T20 Challenge in the South Africa domestic cricket. “They are playing semis tomorrow and if they make final (on April 7) we may miss him for another game,” Simons added.
The Daredevils are already missing English batsman Kevin Pietersen who had been ruled out for the entire season owing to a knee injury. They will also miss Jesse Ryder since the big-hitting is badly injured following a brutal assault in a Christchurch bar.  |
| IPL 2013 Opening Ceremony Live Streams – Where to watch online #IPL6 #IPL Posted: 01 Apr 2013 09:25 PM PDT Indian Premier League 2013 season is about to kick off with the defending champions Kolkata Knight Riders to play the first game against Delhi Daredevils and will also organize the opening ceremony as well. The opening ceremony for the sixth season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) cricket tournament will be held at Eden Gardens in the city of Kolkata, the largest in the country and the second-largest in the world. The ceremony is to start at 7pm local time on Tuesday. Along with Bollywood superstars Shahrukh Khan, Deepika Padukone and Katrina Kaif, American rapper Pitbull would be treated to some authentic Bengali dishes after they perform at the IPL opening ceremony. Kolkata Knight Riders co-owner and Bollywood superstar Shahrukh Khan today promised a “spectacular and never-seen-before” opening ceremony of the Indian Premier League 6 to be held at the Salt Lake stadium here. The Salt Lake stadium, mainly used for hosting football matches, has been decorated in a lavish way, which includes a mammoth-size stage for the opening show. The opening ceremony will have cheerleaders, flying drummers, gymnasts, rhythm acrobats, stilt-walkers, air-tumblers and mass dancers coming together to entertain the audiences. A huge podium has been erected, while the artificial turf is being covered with a rubber mat, where the artists will perform.  |
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