We are in the big city derby at the moment, having beaten Mumbai on Friday and taking on Kolkata on Sunday. The game against Mumbai was not pretty, the wicket was slow and it was tough work for the batsmen. In fact, we were in a spot of bother till the 17th over when Sachin Tendulkar's move to bring himself backfired.
He must have decided to bowl because Harbhajan Singh and Jean Paul Duminy were exceptional in their spells. Sadly, he was not able to land them on the spot and we turned the game in our favour from then on. It was not the most spectacular game of cricket you would see, but we were happy to beat Mumbai, who can be dangerous on their day.
The same description would fit the Kolkata Knight Riders, though they have not exactly lived up to that billing as yet. The side has quite a few match-winners and with David Hussey joining them, it looks a good side on paper. It might help them to have somebody like Hussey, fresh and unaffected by the string of failures that the team has suffered.
Brendon McCullum himself is guaranteed to fire in at least one game. This makes them potential party-poopers for the other teams who have a better chance to make the semifinals. I remember the Deccan Chargers were at the bottom of the table last year, and Adam Gilchrist played a blinder against Mumbai, which cost them a semifinal berth.
{{/usCountry}}Brendon McCullum himself is guaranteed to fire in at least one game. This makes them potential party-poopers for the other teams who have a better chance to make the semifinals. I remember the Deccan Chargers were at the bottom of the table last year, and Adam Gilchrist played a blinder against Mumbai, which cost them a semifinal berth.
{{/usCountry}}Kolkata are a side you would not like to take lightly, and now that their pride is seriously hurt and they have nothing more to lose, they could be the side to be wary of.
The last week has been hard for us, since we have been zigzagging across the country. It was a bit of a blow for us that Virender Sehwag got injured in the busiest part of our schedule. Fortunately, the batsmen have really played well to ensure that when the captain returns, he will not have to do a repair job.
We are sitting pretty at the top of the table with a game in hand, and that's an ideal platform for Viru to return. He is not too far from bringing himself back into the side, but I think he would rather wait to get completely healed, and play on Wednesday, rather than rush back on Sunday.