A toss never brought so much relief. After a rather unendurable opening ceremony - featuring faded stars and imitators of former greats - that delayed the toss by 27 minutes, Adam Gilchrist started Deccan Chargers' title defence by putting Kolkata Knight Riders in on a pitch "that won't change".
Kolkata - in a new kit and led by a reassured new captain - had to make do with the absence of their two big draws, Chris Gayle and Brendon McCullum. Manoj Tiwary was slated to open with Brad Hodge, with a middle order largely comprising Indian batsmen to follow. Apart from Hodge, Owais Shah, allrounder Angelo Mathews and quick bowler Charl Langeveldt were their foreign players. Mathews, recovering from a back injury, bowled just one over in the Sri Lankan domestic Twenty20 competition.
Deccan, who are also dealing with the absence of a few foreign stars, chose Gilchrist, Herschelle Gibbs, Andrew Symonds and Chaminda Vaas as their foreign players. VVS Laxman got a game, Anirudh Singh got a debut, and Jaskaran Singh was included too.
Deccan Chargers: 1 Adam Gilchrist (capt./wk), 2 Herschelle Gibbs, 3 Andrew Symonds, 4 VVS Laxman, 5 Rohit Sharma, 6 Anirudh Singh, 7 T Suman, 8 Jaskaran Singh, 9 Chaminda Vaas, 10 Pragyan Ojha, 11 RP Singh.
Kolkata Knight Riders: 1 Sourav Ganguly (capt.), 2 Brad Hodge, 3 Cheteshwar Pujara, 4 Manoj Tiwary, 5 Owais Shah, 6 Angelo Mathews, 7 Wriddhiman Saha (wk), 8 Laxmi Shukla, 9 Murali Kartik, 10 Ishant Sharma, 11 Charl Langeveldt.