Nathan Coulter-Nile returned back to bolster the pace line-up of Kolkata Knight Riders, who will bowl first, as the pacer replaced the West Indies batsman Darren Bravo. The decision to bring back him in place of Bravo was no surprise, keeping in the mind the result of the game of the previous game that the home side played here against Royal Challengers Bangalore.

Saurashtra batsman, Sheldon Jackson, got his first IPL game in place of Piyush Chawla, who continues to be sidelined from the team on occasions.

The visiting side i.e. Delhi Daredevils who are playing a game after a break of almost a week brought in Ankit Bawne in place of an underperforming Aditya Tare. Bawne is making his IPL debut for Delhi Daredevils. The Maharashtra batsman was in the limelight when he shared 594 runs with skipper Swapnil Gugale for the third wicket in a Ranji Trophy game against Delhi side led by Gautam Gambhir last year.

The conditions at Eden Gardens are quite hot and humid and surely KKR pacers have to put extra efforts to bowl in these conditions.

Last time when these two team met each other in the group stage, it was KKR that snatched the game from Delhi in a last over thriller.

Here is the playing XI of both the sides –

Delhi Daredevils (Playing XI): Sanju Samson, Shreyas Iyer, Karun Nair, Ankit Bawne, Rishabh Pant(w), Corey Anderson, Chris Morris, Kagiso Rabada, Pat Cummins, Amit Mishra, Zaheer Khan(c).

Kolkata Knight Riders (Playing XI): Sunil Narine, Gautam Gambhir(c), Robin Uthappa(w), Manish Pandey, Yusuf Pathan, Sheldon Jackson, Colin de Grandhomme, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Chris Woakes, Kuldeep Yadav, Umesh Yadav.

Here is what both the captains said ay the time fo the toss –

Zaheer: We were looking to bat first. They are a chasing team, we are a defending team. They are the table-toppers, we need some wins under our belt. It will be a good challenge, we have five games coming up, we need some winning momemtum. Just one change for us, Ankit Bawne replaces Aditya Tare.

Gambhir: We will bowl. Looks like a good wicket, will not change, might actually get better under lights. It’s always better to chase during the 4 PM games. They have some quality bowlers, we need to be at our best. Two changes for us, Coulter-Nile comes back in place of Darren Bravo, Sheldon Jackson replaces Piyush Chawla.