Watch out for Yuvraj fireworks

Durban is also famous for Yuvraj's six sixes in one over during the last World T20 and he will definitely walk in with a lot of confidence against the Kolkata Knight Riders today

Watch out for Yuvraj fireworks

Durban is also famous for Yuvraj's six sixes in one over during the last World T20 and he will definitely walk in with a lot of confidence against the Kolkata Knight Riders today

Kolkata Knight Riders play Kings XI today but it's been overcast and raining right throughout. The groundsmen have said that there has been no rain for the last one and a half months and they are expecting some.u00a0 It's a day game so the day/night factor will go away which is big thing in Durban where teams batting second under lights have always struggled.

King: Yuvraj Singh in full flow against Delhi on Sunday.
PIC/AFP

I still remember the 2003 World Cup game against England where we scored 260 and the ball seamed around in the evening. We defeated England by around 80 runs. There will be a bit more bounce on this Durban pitch as it has a history and batsmen will have to cope with it.u00a0

However, Durban is also famous for Yuvraj's six sixes in the last T20 World Championship. He will definitely walk in with a lot of confidence. For us, it is an important game as we need to get into this competition. Both Punjab and KKR have lost our opening games, hence it will be crucial for us to get into tournament.

I think KKR draw the most attention anywhere they play, courtesy Shah Rukh Khan and some of the other respected names in the team. However, Sunday's loss to Deccan Chargers was a huge let-down and I am sure we will bounce back.

Bad start
Obviously, it was not an ideal start to the campaign as we couldn't get off to a winning start. But there is nothing more to it than having just one bad day at the office.u00a0 I think it's just a matter of winning one game and then there would be no stopping us. If one of the experienced top-order batsmen hangs in there as happened in both the games on the opening day, it would make life a lot better for most teams, since not all the domestic cricketers, who are playing in these conditions for the first time, would find it easy to go for strokes right away.

The wickets here are not conducive to stroke-playing straightaway so batsmen need a bit more time to settle down.u00a0 It was quite different in India last year's IPL where the wickets were flat in summer and there was not much room for the bowlers.u00a0 The change in weather conditions here from summer to winter and also a lot of rain around has juiced up the wickets and there is enough sideways movement to keep the bowlers in with a chance all the time.

Batsmen will have to take their time to settle in. Keeping wickets in hand at one end will be very important to launch an attack in the last five overs.u00a0 Also, teams which have good batting depth at the end will be in an advantageous position The spinners also have come into play in the last three to four games with the amount of turn they have obtained inu00a0 Cape Town.

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