Kolkata looks strong in paper but Delhi is piped as team to surprise in this year IPL. So get ready for a ride to dare at Eden Gardens.

IPL: Kolkata Knight Riders Vs Delhi Daredevils Preview

Its Home away from home for Gautam Gambhir who will walk out for toss with his idol and best mate Virender Sehwag but in different colors and against his native place. There will be a bit of dizzy in Delhi people hearts when they see their two of beloved sons face each other but that’s what IPL brings to you. You got to choose between the loyalty to player or franchise team.

You look at the two teams and you look at the condition in offer, will I be wrong to feel my safest bet will be Kolkata? No way, unless Kallis lands in test mode and Sehwag imagines Lee as Akthar and Marchant de Lange as Mohammed Sami but both bowlers are unlikely to play.

The pitch at Eden Gardens is expected to be of no difference from what we seen in last year IPL, so a low scoring game is on the road. For KKR, it doesn’t matter the type of pitch since they have very balanced team but with Abdulla, Shakib, Sunil Narine, Bhatia and Yusuf Pathan in the team, you feel at home in all slow pitches. For DD, they not only have away game but also might get the taste of the problem they are going to encounter more and more in following days of IPL with a lack of world class spinner in the side. It’s not that DD don’t have slow bowlers, they have Van Der Marwe and lots of domestic fringe players but can they hold-in?

Interesting:

While DD has bad headache of searching through available team players list to put forward a balanced team out on the field, KKR got good headache to choosing 4 from many available quality overseas players for putting balanced team in the field.

Team News:

Delhi will be expecting lot from Sehwag and Ross Taylor in batting with help from their all-rounder’s Irfan, Van Der Marwe and Russell.

DD XI(Expected): V Sehwag (capt), V Rao, N Ojha (wk), R Taylor, I Pathan, A Russell, A Finch, Van der Marwe, U Yadav, R Bist and M Morkel.

Not Available: Kevin Peterson, David Warner, Unmukt Chand and Mahela Jayawardene.

Kolkata Knight Riders are one of few             franchise teams who don’t have to worry much about availability of players and also playing XI which will be almost same as the last season. Because of so many quality overseas players, Sunil Narine might have to wait for his IPL debut.

KKR XI (Expected): G Gambhir (capt), J Kallis, B McCullum (wk), Y Pathan, M Tiwary, Shakib Al Hasan, Ryan Ten Doeschate/Eoin Morgan, I Abdulla, R Bhatia, L Shukla and L Balaji.  

Not Available: Brad Haddin and James Pattinson

Prediction: KKR got the players to win but Delhi with team effort can do. My money is firmly on Korbo Lorbo Jeetbo Re!

Tags: Cricket, Delhi Daredevils, Eden Gardens, IPL 2012, IPL 5, Kolkata Knight Riders, Preview