The battle is almost halfway and the battleground has been exciting and enticing.
Both the teams have played quite a few games and have battled it out to reach the table top where Kolkata has emerged to be one of the strongest and balanced sides, Gujarat Lions, on the other hand, have been witnessing a drop in form.
Two weeks into IPL-10, and there is a clear disparity appearing between the frontrunners and laggards.
Chasing a gigantic target of 214, Gujarat Lions ended with 192 for seven in their quota of 20 overs in their last match against Bangalore. Kolkata have pulled off a great win against Delhi the other day with an amazing partnership between Yusuf and Pandey. Kolkata have won 4 out of their five games and thus top the table!
OVERVIEW:
KKR– Everything is smooth for the team. The openers look in good form with Gambhir right up their as one of the strongest contenders for orange cap. He has almost the equal number of the 50s in IPL as David Warner. The absurd decisions by the team to let Narine open after Lynn got injured has banged and taken the opponents by a surprise. The strength of Yusuf Pathan and Manish Pandey in middle order adds to the strength. The bowlers too have delivered well and spell from the star pacer, Umesh Yadav has been successful.
GL: On the other hand, Lions have been in sorry plight since a lot of big names missed the side since the start. Though Jadeja is back but his comeback has been of little help. Even in the last match, Dwayne Smith seems to have been out of sorts. Top order batsman like Finch and Mccullum have failed to perform. GL, who topped the table last year fell is not the bottom-placed team.
VIEW ON THE THINK TANK:
KKR – Kolkata never does a lot of changes to their playing XI. They would like to stick to their winning combination. But they had a tough time deciding between Chawla and Kuldeep. They have made a Coulter-Nile play in their last game and he emerged out being a good one for the team. Shakib-al-Hasan must be getting soon a place again because he can be lethal with his spin and bat.
GL- Lions would look for a winning start against the table toppers. Dwayne Smith has come back to the side. With a point to prove, skipper Suresh Raina can be the difference for Gujarat in IPL-10. Raina didn’t have a great IPL last season according to his own high standards and with a chance to seal a place in India’s Champions Trophy 2017 squad, Raina will be eager for a good show in this edition of the league.
TRACKING THE STRENGTH:
KKR- It’s not just his leadership but his batting as well that makes Gambhir one of the important member of the tournament. In nine editions so far, Gambhir has played 132 matches, in which he has scored 3634 runs for his teams. The southpaw has also crossed the fifty-run mark 31 times in the IPL. This year seems no different. Kolkata boasts of a plethora of talented Indian batsmen apart from skipper Gambhir, the team also has Robin Uthappa, Yusuf Pathan, Manish Pandey and Suryakumar Yadav in their ranks.
KKR has not one but two mystery spinners in their squad and that in itself makes their bowling department seem very strong. West Indian spinner Sunil Narine has been destroying teams in the IPL since 2012.
Meanwhile, India’s young chinaman bowler Kuldeep Yadav is a breakthrough star for KKR.
Not to forget Shakib Al Hasan who has been in tremendous form for Bangladesh coming into the tournament. Leggie Piyush Chawla is also there to add an extra dimension to the Kolkata bowling.
GL – Gujarat’s batting line-up boasts of some of the big names, who are capable of winning the match on their own. Brendon McCullum, Jason Roy, Aaron Finch and Dwayne Smith are capable of ripping apart any bowling line-up in the league while Suresh Raina and Dinesh Karthik are equally destructible Indian batsmen. Dhawal Kulkarni, Praveen Kumar, and Munaf Patel are the pace trio who forms the core of Lions’ bowling department. Jadeja being on the side is one of the huge boosts to the team along with the skipper Raina.
HEAD TO HEAD:
They have faced both times in last year’s IPL, but in both the matches Lions tamed the knights. But this year, the story has been different.
PREDICTION:
Once again, Kolkata have put together a formidable squad and are already taking the IPL by storm in the tenth edition of the tournament.
To remember that Kolkata would be playing in their fortress, Eden Gardens on Friday gives them an upper hand going into the game. Also, the way both teams have performed so far, one can easily close their eyes and choose the favorites of the game.
I hope it ends up to be a tight game at Eden Gardens and for the team batting first, 170-180 will be a par score.