Bond arrival bolsters KKR pace attack

Kolkata Knight Riders bowling armoury got a big boost today with the arrival of their new New Zealand recruit Shane Bond.

Bond will add fire to the pace department of Knight Riders, which already boasts of South African Charl Langeveldt, Ishant Sharma, Ashok Dinda and Ajit Agarkar.

But, the Kiwi pace spearhead's availibility for Knight Riders match against Chennai Super Kings tomorrow is still to be decided.

"He just arrived from a long flight this morning. Let's see how it goes tomorrow morning," said a KKR source.

Knight Riders are still expecting the services of Brendon McCullum and Chris Gayle among their overseas recruits.

Fiery opener McCullum is currently busy with New Zealand's two-Test series against Australia from March 19-31.

The other big hitting opener, Gayle, is expected soon, said the source.

In absence of Gayle and McCullum, Knights have their makeshift openers in Manoj Tiwary and Brad Hodge who stood in a 101-run partnership to set up the issue against Royal Challengers Bangalore last night.

Knights had a two-hour optional practice session in the morning with the benched players along with Langeveldt and Cheteshwar Pujara going on the rigours.