KKR's bid to "change in fortunes"

Time to Talk about a side who in the last three years have dissappointed everyone in the cricketing sense.A team that has been in the news on for the wrong reasons,worst of them being the fake IPL player controversy,shoddy team selection and ofcourse who has forget the preposterous multi captaincy theory.

The only good ending to all that is that all of that has been taken stalk of and they are ready for fresh positive start.If their aggresive bidding for Yusuf Pathan , Gambhir and Kallis ,on whom they spent more than half of their purse , is anything to go by ,KKR is here for a redemption of sorts.

Captain cool,ok that work is reserved for MS Dhoni , here you have captain calm Gautam Gambhir who is a total opposite in many senses to his predesessor Ganguly who came across as a very aggressive personality and always had an aggressive demeanour about him.Gauti has already led the national side before and has had a 100% win record.Coming to his batting, he is a class act with a temperament for every situation.

In kallis hey have a strong technician,someone who can anchor the innings and may be go ballistic if required although he has come in for much slack during his RCB days for leaving it too late.KKR can also expect him to bowl his full quota consistenly.Makes him a strong contender for the starting lineup.Gauti who will be expected to open along with Kallis , makes for good viewing as he possesses all the qaulities for a T20 innings.

There does not seem to be much competition for the no.3 slot which makes Manoj Tiwari an automatic selection,someone who would like to use this opportunity to cash in and make a strong shout for the India cap.

Time to talk about the foreign middle-order batsmen in the side . In Eoin Morgan they have an uncanny irish turned english who can put any bowler to shame when he brings out his range of shots ,especially the array of sweeps in his repertoire.My guess is , as a pure batsman ,he will make it to the eleven at most times. In the unkown commodity Shakib-Al-Hasan they have acquired an allrounder who has quitetly topped the ICC allrounders for a couple of years now.Someone who can play a decent knock with the bat and spin a web with his slow arm bowling on the dosile indian pitches.The Dutchman Ryan TenDoeschate had set the World cup ablaze with his two brillaint hundreds in the group stage,which eventually merited him a place in the KKR squad.He can come pretty handy with the ball too ,with his medium pace.Doeschate and Shakib might have to fight it out for the elusive batting allrounder spot at the crucial no.6.

Haddin who is now a regular in the Australian ODI opening slot has the paltry quota of four goin strongly against him , otherwise the Aussie is a sound performer with the bat and gloves.

If you were wonderin where is the baroda marauder,yes the wait is over time to talk of Yusuf Pathan , which is my view is best man for the IPL after Kieron Pollard. Yusuf is one, who when gets going ,can set fear into the opposition ranks, one who can change the game on its head with his humungous hits into orbit.He comes in pretty good with the ball too.He is a sure shot in the starting eleven.

If you havent heard of the Kashmiri Iqbal Abdulla,who plys his trade for Mumbai in the domestic circuit has had a very good domestic season both with the bat and ball.He is expected to book his place in no.7 in the initial stages of the tournament atleast.

As opposed to Haddin , Sreevats Goswami has the maximum quota of foreigners going for him for if he's not a howler behind the stumps and if he could contibute just enough , he could well hold onto his spot in the side.

If you thought KKR bowling attack lacked sting ,here's Brett Lee their best signing in the bowling department , he would have to shoulder the responsibilty of making the initial breakthroughs and also bowling well in the death , if they have to have a strong shout for the playoff spots.

DD recruit

The Bengal captain Shukla is a good bat and adept in the trade of medium pace . Shukla's place could be threatened by the DD recruit Rajat Bhatia who is much the same as Shukla in bowling and batting. Ladda the leggie ,who didnt have a bad outing in the last season

, Balaji the CSK recruit and the home grown Unadkat will have to fight it out for the last place as the specialist bowler's .

CSK look formidable

Open your favourite cricket website and you will find the top headlines featuring "Global feast over,time for clubbing" what better way to hail the heralding of the IPL,replete with glitz ,glam and every other thing contrary to what the founding fathers of cricket in Great Britain would have scripted. A day before the first ball gets bowled at the chepauk , I have just about found time to ink my views on team lineups of the champions oops! the superkings from Chennai . . At the helm they have the superking himself,one who has achieved the crowning glory in everything ...Champions league,IPL,T20 WC,Test Championship and the recently concluded 5o over format WC and yes I am talking of MS Dhoni. At, the top of the order they have the 'blow hot blow cold' Murali Vijay and the classy Mr.Cricket Mike Hussey who might have to counter the competition from his counterpart George Bailey. At no.3 you have someone who has made the spot his own,the sublime Suresh Raina ,the most most prolific scorer for CSK and also the only one to have crossed thousand runs in IPL. Subramanium Bardinath at no.4 seems a nobrainer considering the how consistently he has been consolidation the innings in the middle for his team for the last three seasons. MS Dhoni's prowess at no.5 more than well known to the world , this makes him an automatic no.5. The injured Dwayne Bravo may have helped the cause of Scot Syris ,the handy utilitarian NewZealander , the young SouthAfrican middle order batsman Du Pleiss and the charismatic Anirudh ,son of the effervescent Srikanth.These three might have to fight it out for the sixth spot. Albie Morkel , with the bat have been giving their innings a strong finish and comes in handy with the new ball too and given the fact CSK had retained him purely on the basis of performance makes him an almost automatic selection at no.7. If Anirudh makes the cut at no.6 ,then two bowler slots will be up for grabs as against two if Styris or Du Pleiss make it. The young and very talented Southee has the ability to make the new ball talk and also fire in yorkers in the death overs . He also has the capability to hit them big with the bat.Suraj Randiv is young talented offie from Srilanka who is no mug with the bat either while Kulasekera is a very tidy operator with the new ball and also has the ability to score a few when called upon. These three will have to fight it out for the no.8 spot. The wile young R Aswin with a bag full of tricks can trouble the best and has the temperament to bowl in the powerplay overs with the new ball.Given his exploist with the national side in the recently concluded World Cup , he is a sure starter at no.9. At no.10 will be a dogfight between the much promising Jakati , young talented Tyagi , DD recruit Yo Mahesh and Joginder Sharma , who will always be known more for the ill fated Scoop Misbah played against him than his bowling.At no.11 Doug Bollinger is an automatic selection given he is hundred percent considering he had to leave the World Cup midway due to injury or else this postion will be thrown wide open . KKR recruit Saha , is expected to warm the benches for most of the tournament as reserve keeper while Vignesh and Vasudevadas would be lucky to get a game. As a fielding side too they are top notch .In Suresh Raina ,Hussey, Badrinath, Anirudh they have personnel who are as fleet as gazelle. While Dhoni's gloves are as safe as post-office deposits, Others are not too far behind either.So expect them to save the 2o runs that make the difference and latch on to the game changing catches. If on paper is anything to go by CSK stand head and shoulders above all.Its no secret now that selectors would have a tough job leaving out a few big names . All in all Chennai Superkings have all the arsenal it takes to go all the way. So come the 8th of April , the whole of Chepauk and indeed the whole of Chennai will go "Chennai superkingskku whisltle podu."