Indian names hold key for defending champions

1 Gautam Gambhir, 2 Robin Uthappa, 3 Manish Pandey, 4 Yusuf Pathan, 5 Ryan ten Doeschate, 6 Suryakumar Yadav, 7 Shakib Al Hasan, 8 Piyush Chawla, 9 Sunil Narine, 10 Morne Morkel, 11 Umesh Yadav
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Winners for the second time in three years. The crowning glory was having lost five out of their first seven matches in the first leg of the tournament, Knight Riders bounced back to notch a record nine wins in a row.

This will not be an easy season for Kolkata Knight Riders.

Sunil Narine has been forced to re-model his action. Jacques Kallis has moved from the cricket field into the dugout into a coaching role. Chris Lynn and James Neesham, the men most suitable to take the vacant position in the middle order, have been ruled out due to injury. Shakib Al Hasan is available for a limited amount of matches due to the IPL clashing with Bangladesh's home series against Pakistan.

The biggest concern remains whether their brittle middle order can stand up strong in case the top order comprising Robin Uthappa, Manish Pandey, Gautam Gambhir - the three best batsmen in that order - fails. Last season 59% of Knight Riders' runs were scored by these three: 1396 out of 2372 runs.

Yusuf Pathan, Suryakumar Yadav, Shakib, Ryan ten Doeschate, Andre Russell - all these players are match-winners on their day. But they can be mainly classified as hitmen and finishers. Can one of these men actually withstand the opposition onslaught and survive ten overs of a rebuilding phase in case the top three go bust? The key, as for any franchise, will be the success of the Indians. For Knight Riders it is doubly important because it is the Indian batsmen who provide the core strength and stability.

And this is where Kallis could play an influential hand. He has played in every imaginable match situation in all three forms of cricket, so he could provide tips both tactical as well mental as to how to play time. At times in Twenty20 it is not such a bad idea to switch off and then re-build.

If the batsmen can raise a competitive total, Knight Riders have the bowling strength to attack and defend. The responsibility, as ever, would be on Narine. But the emergence of Kuldeep Yadav during last year's Champions League Twenty20, the accuracy of Piyush Chawla's legbreaks and googlies, and the aggression of the fast men Umesh Yadav and Morne Morkel can equally provide the impetus in the bowling department.

Narine is a given. But two men who will need to once again play a crucial role would be the Knight Riders opening pair of Gambhir and Uthappa. The opposition will definitely train their eyes immediately on Uthappa, the best batsman last IPL, and, who was single-handedly responsible for playing a dominant role in Knight Riders' record nine successive wins. Uthappa had eleven 40-plus scores in 16 matches - the most for any batsman in a single season. Importantly, 10 of those came in consecutive matches. Uthappa enters this campaign on back of a successful domestic season: he was the highest run-getter in the Ranji Trophy where Karnataka finished the treble for the second year in succession. And he is hungry: to perform and get back in the Indian team.

But equally crucial would Uthappa's partnership with his captain Gambhir at the top of the order. The pair have the second-most runs together (803) for any opening pair who average 50-plus in Twenty20 cricket. In the absence of an established and in-form heavyweights in the middle order, the onus would be on the openers to not just lay the platform but also carry out the roles of aggressor and anchor according to the match situation.

He is the oldest cricketer in this tournament. One of his former team-mates is now a coach for a rival franchise. But at 44, Brad Hogg refuses to age. Fit as a 20-year-old, Hogg is a dynamic presence in the dressing room and the field. Chirpy, evocative, he can draw the attention of the audience. But he is no clown. He is a trickster who practises an endangered art. He is the only chinaman bowler to have taken more than 100 wickets (106) in Twenty20 cricket. He bowled tight spells (seven wickets in six matches at economy rate of 5.33) and was an influential presence for the Perth Scorchers who won the Big Bash League in January. So at Rs 50 lakhs, Hogg is a very good purchase. Considering Knight Riders would ideally want to rest Narine during the middle of the campaign, Hogg would be a fitting choice so to replace the West Indies offspinner.

With Pakistan tour of Bangladesh running parallel to the IPL, Shakib Al Hasan is expected to play the first two matches and then return from the final two matches of the league phase.

Trevor Bayliss (head coach); Jacques Kallis (batting consultant cum mentor), Wasim Akram (bowling consultant); Vijay Dahiya (assistant coach); Andrew Leipus (physio); Adrian le Roux (Trainer)