The Kolkata Knight Riders will play their second game of the tournament with a match against the Royal Challengers Bangalore. The match will be played in the din of the Eden Gardens in Kolkata and one can be rest assured that the Knight Riders will be going into the game as favourites with the 100,000 audiences cheering them on. 
Kolkata had a good turn around for them in the first match against the Chargers, but they will know that they can improve. In fact, in both their departments, the batting and the bowling, in the first ten overs, the Knight Riders had struggled to lift their game, and that is exactly what they need to do now. 
For starters, Manoj Tiwari was a surprise choice as an opener and could do well to bat down the order, with Sourav Ganguly coming in at the top. However, more importantly, the night conditions are going to allow the bowlers to swing the ball a tad and that is the one reason why they need to preserve their wickets right throughout.
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Owais Shah was a surprise pick by the Knight Riders in the squad, and he was a bigger surprise in the playing eleven, but he justified the faith and did what he does best. However, then again, it will be interesting to see how he goes about his business if his side has had a good enough start – will he be allowed that breathing space in the start of the innings?
For the Bangalore side, the biggest plus will be that they are not missing any real players from the side, except Kevin Pietersen. With a near-full strength side, Ray Jennings would not have too many issues in picking up his best 11, and that is bound to include the likes of Jacques Kallis – coming off and excellent century against India – and the Indians in Rahul Dravid and the youngsters like Kohli.
However, to me, the player to watch out for will be Manish Pandey; an exciting young prospect who has had a couple of really big knocks at the domestic level; most notably in the finals of the Ranji Trophy this year. He could be the one reason why Bangalore go into the game as favourites; 5/6 at Sky Bet, as compared to Kolkata’s 11/10 (Stan James).