The second day of the tournament will see the Kolkata Knight Riders take on last year’s bottom-finishers, Deccan Chargers, where as the Delhi DareDevils will face Kings XI Punjab in the evening encounter. Kolkata Knight Riders has had an iify kind of a start to their warm-up matches; having lost two of their three warm-up matches, but then some would argue that the matches lost were under the leadership of Laxmi Ratan Shukla; one of the cogs in the multi-captaincy wheels of John Buchanan. 
Talking of Shukla, the all rounder, he is highly rated all-rounder costing four in the system and could make it to the squad, given that he should be a part of the most matches. However, giving him a close fight for that lone slot would be Dwayne Smith, who costs the same, and is a better batsman with an ability to bowl his spell without too many issues. If you are looking at the DareDevils-Punjab match, then Irfan Pathan and Paul Collingwood are both good buys, but my personal favourite amongst the four teams on feature will be Sourav Ganguly. The reason is rather simple; as has always been his wont, Ganguly would be looking at proving his mettle to the likes of Buchanan and this he would with both, the bat and the ball.
With Ganguly in, I do not think I would want Brendon McCullum as my wicket-keeper, however, if you do not sub your all-rounder with someone from Kolkata Knight Rider, McCullum looks to be an option to savour. His batting has evolved from being a bowling-basher to more of a combination of carve-and-smash approach depending on the situation. Strong, aggressive hands to go with a very matured shoulder could be the success story behind the Knight Riders story this time.
Getting in Rohit Sharma as a batsman is a risk given his penchant for batting troughs and crests with equal panache; instead I will prefer someone with more consistency and Venugopal Rao should fit the bill. Although a tad slow, he may get the desired runs and help in getting your score up too! From amongst the DareDevils and the Kings, the two stand-out players are Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir and given Sehwag’s lack of form in the tests against NZ, I would say that a big inning is due from him. Hence, I shall pitch in for the former. The other names to consider would be Dave Warner and Brad Hodge, though a tip here would be to stay clear of the injured Cheteshwar Pujara who may miss the entire tournament.
Glen McGrath is a match winner in his own right, yet, in this format of the game, he has been more economical than being a wicket-taking bowler; instead it is someone like Yo Mahesh, who would not only make it the playing eleven but also scalp a wicket or two who could be considered. Fidel Edwards’ cost and potential waywardness could go against him, but on his day, he could also do a Henry Olanga of the 1999 World Cup fame and get rid of batsmen without breaking into a sweat. In the absence of Lee, Sreesanth and Taylor, I will pitch in for Piyush Chawla who should get assistance from the pitches in South Africa; like Johan Botha does and bowls like a champion.
All in all, a Super Sunday in prospect!