IPL 2018, Match 13: Kolkata Knight Riders vs Delhi Daredevils – Match Predictions

Gambhir will return to face his former side.

Published - 15 Apr 2018, 20:38 IST | Updated - 15 Apr 2018, 20:38 IST

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Both Kolkata Knight Riders and Delhi Daredevils have won one out of their three games so far, but their campaigns haven’t gone on similar patterns. While KKR had a cracking start as they beat the Royal Challengers Bangalore in their opener, Delhi Daredevils lost their first two games before making a brilliant comeback yesterday at the Wankhede Stadium by chasing down 190 odd.

IPL is a tournament where negative momentum can take you on a downward spiral pretty quickly and KKR needs to make sure that doesn’t happen with them. They have plenty of quality and experience in their ranks and if they can get their game-plan sorted and utilize their resources better, they are a really strong contender for the playoffs.

Delhi Daredevils will have to be at the top of their game to breach the Eden Gardens fortress as it’s not one of the easiest away venues to play at. However, the good thing is that their captain Gautam Gambhir knows the Eden conditions really well having played for KKR for 7 years and he will be providing invaluable insights to his teammates.

Pitch and Conditions

The two games that Eden Gardens has hosted so far this season, the pitch has been a sporting one on both occasions. There hasn’t been too much of lateral movement, but the fizz of the deck has been refreshing to see on an Indian ground.

Most of the balls have thudded into the keeper’s gloves and while the fast bowlers have enjoyed it, the good stroke-players have taken a liking to it as well and there have been some eye-catching strokes on display.

Eden being a small ground and Kolkata being one of the regions where dew presents itself in excessive amount means batting conditions will turn easier after the mid-innings break and both the captains will surely want to be batting in the second innings.

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Kolkata Knight Riders

Probable Changes – No Change

KKR made the expected changes the other evening against the Sunrisers Hyderabad by drafting in Shivam Mavi and Shubnam Gill, but they didn’t use them as well as they should have. To slot Gill at no. 7 was beyond surprising as he is a top-order batsman and has almost always batted in top 4 in domestic and U19 cricket. Even though he was not expected to open the innings for KKR, he should perhaps have batted 4 and that’s where KKR will have to put him this game to get the best out of him.

Mavi is also better off bowling with the new ball only and not in the middle overs as he shapes it upfront and at a good pace. To bowl a youngster against the batsmen when they are new to the crease and their feet aren’t moving is better than throwing him in at the deep end when the batsmen are set. The 19-year old must bowl early on.

Predicted XI: Sunil Narine, Chris Lynn, Robin Uthappa, Shubman Gill, Nitish Rana, Dinesh Karthik (C & WK), Andre Russell, Shivam Mavi, Mitchell Johnson, Piyush Chawla, Kuldeep Yadav

Delhi Daredevils

Probable Changes – No Change

Delhi also made a couple of changes against the Mumbai Indians and the two players they picked played a vital role in them pulling off that remarkable victory at Wankhede. While Jason Roy who replaced Colin Munro at the top of the order batted through and saw Delhi home with a 90 odd, Daniel Christian also showcased some terrific death bowling coming in for one of Delhi’s retained players Chris Morris.

Delhi used Rishabh Pant at no. 3 as well and the wicket-keeper batsman came off really well batting at his preferred position as he showed his prowess against the spinners hitting them consistently down the ground and providing Delhi the necessary impetus in the middle overs. The Delhi skipper Gautam Gambhir is likely to persist with Pant at 3.

Predicted XI: Gautam Gambhir (C), Jason Roy, Rishabh Pant (WK), Shreyas Iyer, Glenn Maxwell, Daniel Christian, Vijay Shankar, Rahul Tewatia, Shahbaz Nadeem, Mohammed Shami, Trent Boult

Team Comparison

If Kolkata sorts their batting order, they are a powerhouse. They must make sure they don’t waste Sunil Narine. Last game they played him at 4 and he didn’t look effective there at all. If he doesn’t open, he probably can’t bat anywhere else in top 7. So he definitely opens with Lynn followed by Uthappa and Gill at 3 and 4 respectively.

Delhi also looks sorted with Roy and Pant in form up top. They will probably want more from Gautam Gambhir who struggled quite a bit last game. However, the left-handed veteran is a class player and highly experienced and the Delhi management won’t be concerned about his form just after one struggling knock.

Bowling wise, Kolkata’s attack is more compact and versatile. A combination of wrist spin of Kuldeep and Piyush, mystery spin of Narine, left arm pace of Mitchell Johnson and hard lengths of Andre Russell makes them multi-dimensional. Delhi’s attack might not be of the same quality, but it’s not the worst attack in the tourney either and the KKR batsmen won’t have a walk in the park facing them, that’s for sure.