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We were happy to beat Mumbai

Kolkata are a side you would not like to take lightly, writes Glenn McGrath

We are in the big city Derby at the moment, having beaten Mumbai Indians on Friday, and scheduled to take on Kolkata Knight Riders 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 where Sachin Tendulkar’s move to bring himself on backfired.

He must have decided to bowl because Harbhajan Singh and J.P. Duminy were exceptional in their spells. Sadly for the team, 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, since they can be a dangerous side on their day.

Good side

The same description would fit 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 in their side, 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 a potential party pooper for the other teams who have a better chance of making it to the semifinals. I remember Deccan Chargers were at the bottom of the table last year, and Adam Gilchrist played a blinder against Mumbai Indians, which cost them a semifinal berth.

Pride has been hurt

Knight Riders are a side you would not like to take lightly, and now that their pride is seriously hurt and since they have nothing more to lose they could be the side to be wary of in the tournament.

The last week has been hard for us since we have been zig-zagging across the country. It was a bit of a blow for us that Virender Sehwag got injured during 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.

Gameplan

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