IPL 10, Match 3, GL v KKR, Preview - Battle of equals on cards as Gujarat Lions host the Knight Riders

The Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium at Rajkot is all set to host the first home game of the Gujarat Lions in IPL 10. The Lions will host the Kolkata Knight Riders, who are often tagged as a perennially good visiting side. Last year, both teams were the two unfortunate sides from the top 4 teams and had failed to make it to the finals. Coming to the 2017 auctions, the two sides have managed to rope in some very smart buys.

Kolkata Knight Riders were dented by the loss of their star all-rounder Andre Russell but they did not let that tinker their bowling plans. With the overseas players like Chris Woakes and Trent Boult, the Knights have beefed up their bowling quotient. When it comes to their batting, they are one of the few sides who do not rely heavily on overseas firepower. This has been the key to their success in the recent past.

On the other hand, the Gujarat Lions boast of a very strong overseas contingent in the batting department. They have the services of several international openers with Jason Roy being the latest addition to their set up. When it comes to bowling, they rely on Indian pacers. With contrasting team balances, there still remains a battle of equal. Expect a close game between the two sides.

Focus will be on:

Suresh Raina 

The Gujarat Lions skipper Suresh Raina is expected to bag most of the headlines in the important first game. Raina has been struggling with form in the recent past and has not been a part of the international set up in the recent times. Moreover, the fact that he was not even offered a central contract this year by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) will put an additional bit of pressure to perform on the veteran southpaw. Raina had a decent season last year but was far from being up to the standards that he was renowned to set when playing for the Chennai Super Kings. In the 15 matches he played last year, he scored 399 runs at an average of 28.5 with 3 fifties in IPL 2016.

Kuldeep Yadav

Kuldeep Yadav has been a part of Kolkata Knight Riders for quite sometime now. However, this year he can surely expect a lot more people to be looking up to him for better performances. He recently made his Test debut against Australia and had scalped 4/68 on debut. That will bring a lot of attention towards him and in absence of Brad Hogg, he will be the spinner to watch out for. He will have the support of Sunil Narine in the spin department and the KKR franchise is known for heavily relying on the spinners.

Chris Woakes

The English all-rounder Chris Woakes, who is more renowned for his bowling heroics, was a big buy for the Knight Riders at the auctions this year. Woakes is most likely to be a part of the starting eleven. He recently played match winning knocks with both bat and the ball in the away ODI series against West Indies in the Caribbean. Woakes is a key member of the England limited-overs side and is a key asset in the death overs. In the limited overs fixtures against India, he successfully defended a low score in the final over to win a match for his side.

Toss: Kolkata Knight Riders won the toss and opted to field

Quotes from the toss:

Suresh Raina: ‘We don’t know much about this wicket, will look to do well and put a big score on the board. We have a pretty good batting unit, will look to do well with our four overseas batting stars. Hopeful about a good game tonight.’

Gautam Gambhir: ‘We will bowl. Looks like a good wicket, will not change much. We have got Trent Boult, Chris Woakes, Sunil Narine and Chris Lynn as our overseas players. We will look to restrict them to a modest score and chase it down.’

Gujarat Lions – Team Combination

The home side looks strong on the paper but have a large pool of openers to choose from. They have the likes of Brendon McCullum, Jason Roy, Dwayne Smith, Aaron Finch – all proven match winning openers. They might go in with Brendon McCullum and Jason Roy at the top order and then have Aaron Finch in the middle order. Among the all-rounders, James Faulkner will be the one making the cur as Dwayne Bravo is injured and ruled out of the first few matches.

They will miss the services of Ravindra Jadeja too. The middle order will see the youngster Ishan Kishan taking some responsibility. The bowling department will heavily rely on Indian contingent with Dhawal Kuklarni and Praveen Kumar being the leading pacers for the side. Nathu Singh might well be tested as well. He was with the Mumbai Indians last year but did not get a game.

Kolkata Knight Riders – Team Combination

The Knight Riders have a few concerns when it comes to injuries. They will miss the services of India’s premier pacer Umesh Yadav. However, that should not be bothering them much though. They have the likes of Chris Woakes and Trent Boult as their overseas pacers and have Ankit Rajpoot to support them. The spin department might see Sunil Narine being the frontline spinner who will be assisted by Kuldeep Yadav.

Piyush Chawla might miss out on being a part of the playing eleven. KKR is one of the few teams that do not have major dependence on overseas batsmen. They have a strong top order with skipper Gautam Gambhir opening with Robin Uthappa. Manish Pandey will follow them at number three and vice captain Suryakumar Yadav will bat at number 4. Hard hitting batsman Yusuf Pathan is likely to bat at number 5 and play the role of the pinch hitter for the Knights.

Playing XI:

Kolkata Knight Riders: G Gambhir (c), R Uthappa (wk), M Pandey, C Lynn, Y Pathan, S Yadav, C Woakes, P Chawla, K Yadav, S Narine, T Boult

Gujarat Lions: B McCullum, D Smith, J Roy, S Raina (c), A Finch, D Karthik (wk), M Gony, P Kumar, S Jakati, D Kulkarni, S Kaushik

StatAttack

5.5 – Yusuf Pathan bowled with an economy of 5.5 in the IPL 2016 – the second best among all bowlers.

18 – The number of wickets Dhawal Kulkarni took in the previous edition for the Lions. He was fourth in the list of leading wicket takers. Dwayne Bravo was the next best Lions bowler with 17 wickets to his name.

501 – Number of runs scored by Gautam Gambhir in IPL 2016. He was the leading run scorer for Kolkata Knight Riders and 4th highest overall.