Reigning Champion Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) opens the title defense against 2013 Champion Mumbai Indians Wednesday evening at Eden Gardens Kolkata in the grand opening match of IPL 2015.

Section of Cricket enthusiasts who love movie actions and drama in cricket will remain engrossed in media for about a month.

The fervor of ICC World Cup 2015 is somehow not yet over. But we know the glamor of IPL can overshadow ICC world cup in a very short time. World Cup is world Cup no other tournament in matter of sheer status cannot out value it. But music, dances and glamor make IPL an attractive event. Players from almost all test playing countries excepting Pakistan assemble in IPL like honey bees hunting for honey.

This year IPL has special significance as BCCI has a new President and IPL is under a new management committee. We hope the spirit of competitive cricket will not be spoiled by ugly activities of dirty match fixers.

KKR won the Championship in 2012 and 2015. It has got the potential to win it again as it retained most of its mainstream players. Indian discards Gautam Gambhir and Robin Uthappa still remain potent force to launch the innings and let the innings rolling.

They will miss the three in one player Jack Kallis .But the middle order comprising of Manish Pandey, Shakib-al-Hasan, Yusuf Pathan and Suryakumar Yadav can cause considerable damage to any attack. Shakib can only play the first two matches for his international assignments and will be replaced by protean all-rounder Botha.

The pace attack is formidable having Pat Cummins, Morne Morkel and Umesh Yadav in their lineup. There are two very useful all-rounders in Azhar Mahmood and Andre Russel. The uncertainties over Sunil Narin having done KKR has a potential match winning spin combination with Narin – Shakib and Brad Hogg in the team. Perhaps Piyush Chawla will also feature prominently.

In the long tournament the team requires to play consistently and start well .Champion team always have prerogative to play first match on the home ground .Eden Gardens will have huge KKR fans to cheer for them. In the overall team analysis batting appears a little bit thinner for KKR. It will largely depend on how much hunger is left in Gambhir and what kind of form Uthappa will be in.

Mumbai Indians did not have a very good last season. This year legendary Australian batsman Ricky Ponting has taken over from Kiwi John Wright as head coach. Aaron Flinch and Lendl Simmons may open the Innings.

Both are explosive batsmen and can give kick start to the innings. World cricket knows what Rohit Sharma is capable of Aiden Blizzard, Ambati Rayudu , Corey Anderson and Keiron Pollard are all stroke makers. But teams can play only 4 foreign recruits. MI has to depend on Malinga and Hazzlewood sharing the new ball.

In that case they have to choose which two batsmen from among the foreign recruits they will play. IPL regulation says in every match seven Indian players have to play. Spin attack can be managed by Harbhajan, Tare and Ojha. But the balance will be essential in the team making judicial choice of foreign recruits.

First match will have some battle of nerves .The match between two equally matched sides may produce magical cricket. My money will be on KKR not only because of Shakib’s sake but for their home advantage.

The record says the historical contests between the Kolkata Knight Riders and Mumbai Indians the latter have generally dominated those contests. MI has won 10 of their 14 contests against KKR.

However, in the recent past when the two teams met, KKR got the better of MI on both occasions – firstly by 41 runs at Abu Dhabi and subsequently by 6 wickets in Cuttack.

Teams:

KKR : Gautam Gambhir , Robin Uthappa , Manish Pandey, Shakib Al Hasan, Surya Kumar Yadav, Ryan Ten Does Chate ,Yusuaf Pathan, Andre Russel, Morne Morkel, Umesh Yadav, Pat Cummins, Sunil Narin, Brad Hogg ,Veer Pratap Singh. Azhar Mahmood, Johan Botha .Piyush Chawla.

Mumbai Indians : Rohit Sharma, Aaron Flinch , Parthiv Patel, Aiden Blizzard, Ambati Rayadu, Marchant de Langa, Keiron Pollard, Corey Anderson, Lendl Simmons, Unmukh Chand , Lasith Malinga, Josh Hazzlewood, Vinay Kumar, Harbhajan Sigh, Aditiya Tare, Jaspt Bumrah, Pragyan Ojha.

BDST: 1045 HRS, APR 08, 2015
AKA