IPL: Royal Challenge awaits Knight Riders

IPL: Royal Challenge awaits Knight Riders
DH News Service, Bangalore:
The much-awaited Indian Premier League will kickstart on Friday at the M Chinnaswamy stadium here with Bangalore Royal Challengers facing Kolkata Knight Riders.


The match will herald the start of 44-day Twenty20 bash with eight teams from across the country slugging it out for an eventual prize money of nearly Rs 5 crore.

The tournament will start with a 45-minute, colourful ceremony. If that is not enough, the presence of Bollywood mega star Shah Rukh Khan, owner of the Kolkata franchise, and business tycoon Vijay Mallya, who owns the Bangalore franchise, will add to the glamour.

The event will witness some of the biggest names in international cricket rubbing shoulders with Indian icons and aspiring youngsters from domestic circuit. The Bangalore side will be led by former Indian captain Rahul Dravid, while his predecessor Sourav Ganguly will be at the helm of Kolkata outfit.

It will be an intriguing battle between the two teams who have an array of international stars in their ranks.

Apart from Dravid, the City team boasts of South African all-rounder Jacques Kallis, his compatriot and explosive wicketkeeper batsman Mark Boucher.

But the Bangalore team will miss the services of Indian Test skipper Anil Kumble, who is yet to recover from a groin strain that he had suffered during the first Test against South Africa in Chennai recently.