Wednesday, February 27, 2008

IPL Team analysis: Kolkata Night Riders


Kolkata team has most passionate captain-owner combination among the Indian premier League teams. It is like Liverpool of India with Kolkata’s fans will definitely endorse this team as they do it for their football clubs. This IPL team finds it easy to attract audience as club culture is already established here.


If the management can able to add decent twenty20 middle order batsmen among its young recruits, Kolkata Night riders may surprise Hyderabad or Chennai. I can’t understand why it bought players like Agarkar and Taibu? Franchise failed to buy its wanted players like Brett Lee and Adam Gilchrist.


Kolkata IPL team review:


Rating: 3.75/5.


Franchise: Red Chillies Entertainment (Shah Rukh khan and Juhi Chawla)


Money spent at auction: Rs 20 crore.Coach: John Buchanan.
Positive points:
1. Wonderful coach and inspirational captain.
2. It boasts of strongest top order in IPL with Ganguly, Gayle and Ponting. Kolkata and Hyderabad have strong top order line ups.
3. Most passionate captain and owner.
4. Good pace attack.
5. Brendum McCullum is a dangerous batsman.
Weak points:
1. Weak middle order.
2. Erratic Shoaib Akthar and Ajit Agarkar.
Kolkata Night Riders:
1. Sourav Ganguly (Icon) - Captain- 4.4 crore.


2. Chris Gayle- West Indies – 3.2 crore.


3. Ricky Ponting- Australia- 1.6 crore!


4. David Hussey- Australia- 2.5 crore!


5. Brendon McCullumNew Zealand – 2.8 crore.


6. Ramnaresh Sarwan- West Indies.


7. Shoaib Akthar- Pakistan- 1.7 crore.


8. Ajit Agarkar- India- 1.4 crore?


9. Ishant Sharma- India- 3.8 crore.


10. Umar Gul- O.6 crore.


11. Murali Kartik- india- 1.7 crore.


12. Tatenda Taibu- Zimbabwe- 0.5 crore.
Verdict: Kolkata night riders may reach semi-finals of the inaugural Indian Premier League twenty20 cricket tournament. I like to watch this team’s play at Eden gardens stadium. Passion rules!

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