Knight Riders targets win against Delhi

Gambhir helped KKR win titles in 2012 and 2014 before jumping ship to his hometown franchise Daredevils this year. The captaincy mantle was handed over to Dinesh Karthik, who has so far looked out of so far.

As Karthik rightly pointed out at the post-match press conference on Saturday, KKR’s strength lies in its three-pronged spin attack led by mystery spinner Sunil Narine and also has celebrated chinaman Kuldeep Yadav and veteran leggie Piyush Chawla. Narine was exceptional against SRH, conceding just 17 runs in four overs and also taking the timely wickets of Wriddhiman Saha, who looked good for his 15-ball 24 and in-form Shikhar Dhawan (7). 

Kuldeep and Chawla also kept it tight as its pace bowlers kept leaking runs. KKR’s worry has been its team composition as well, a feature laid bare. Dropping the out-of-form Vinay Kumar, Rinku Singh and Tom Curran, KKR went in with Under-19 World Cup winners Shubman Gill and Shivam Mavi, top order batsman and pacer respectively. 

But while Gill, who bats at No.3, was sent in to bat after Narine at No.7, Mavi was handed the ball in the 15th over. Gill looked a fish out of water, huffing and puffing to three runs of nine balls before Bhuvneshwar Kumar got his back while Mavi was hit for 10 runs in his only over.

The opening slot with Chris Lynn is also an uncertainty with Sunil Narine not coming out with the Australian on Saturday and Uthappa filling in that role, for only the second time since the end of the 2016 season. KKR’s pace battery has also been poor, giving away a lot of runs and lacking fire power or variety up front. 

Gambhir, who knows the team like the back of his hand, will lead a Delhi side brimming with confidence after a thrilling seven-wicket win over Mumbai Indians in Mumbai. 

After losing to Kings XI Punjab and Rajasthan Royals in the first two games, England opener Jason Roy led Delhi’s charge with an unbeaten 53-ball 91 and he was ably supported by Rishabh Pant, who smashed a 25-ball 47. Delhi has issues to address especially in its bowling department which has failed to deliver in each of the three games played so far. 

Talking of bowlers, local boy Mohammed Shami will be returning to the city. In the head-to-head count, KKR lead by 12-8 but the host will be up against it on Monday, looking to comeback to get its house in order.

Kolkata Knight Riders Vs Delhi Daredevils @ 8 pm on Star Sports 1, HD 1