Kolkata has made a comeback

The maiden IPL final entry for Kolkata Knight Riders is expected to usher in a windfall of more high profile Twenty-20 games at the Eden Gardens over the next year even if they lose the final to Chennai Super Kings. While the hallowed venue is certain to be one of the venues for Champions League T-20 later this year including the opening ceremony, the state association is eyeing a bigger slice of the pie during the sixth edition of the IPL next year. While the teams\' line-up of the CL T-20 and the fixtures will be announced later, the IPL authorities have indicated that apart from their share of matches, the opening ceremony of the premier event will be held in Kolkata on October 12. The four qualifiers for the play-offs in this year\'s IPL: CSK, KKR, Delhi Daredevils and Mumbai Indians will be part of the event while Sialkot Stallions will be the first team from Pakistan to be part of this event. Sources in the Cricket Association of Bengal (Cab) reveal that its president, Jagmohan Dalmiya, who has been invited to watch the final in Chennai — will be having a dialgoue with the top brass of Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to bring the final of next year\'s IPL to Kolkata. \"As per rules, the winners of previous year is allotted the IPL final but the CAB president\'s contention is that Chennai have already hosted the final twice while Mumbai have done it once — though they haven\'t won it,\" sources told Gulf News.Lowest ebb Incidentally, Eden Gardens — which had once hosted finals of the Reliance World Cup, Hero Cup, MRF World Series as well as the opening ceremony of ‘96 World Cup — had fallen off the radar for ‘big matches\' for sometime now. The venue also suffered a big loss of face when the highly billed India versus England game of the 2011 World Cup was taken away by the ICC for not being ready on time. Meanwhile, Delhi Daredevils batsman Ross Taylor said in an interview that they would like to move on and strive to perform better in the Champions League. \"That\'s a nice thing about the IPL — even if you don\'t win it, if you\'ve done well right through the tournament, you still get a chance to play in the CLT20. We have something where we can redeem ourselves, and hopefully, we go one step further and make it to the finals and maybe win it,\" Taylor told the IPL\'s official website. Delhi\'s flop show After a successful campaign in the league phase, Delhi failed to recreate the same performance in the playoffs as they went down to Kolkata first, and then against defending champions Chennai Super Kings. \"It is disappointing the way we finished. We started really well and we were confident before getting into the knockout [playoff] phase. But full credit to KKR and CSK, they deserved to be where they are and hopefully, we will be bigger and better for next year,\" said a dejected Taylor.