After all the entertainment at the Salt Lake Stadium, now its time for the real action to begin at the Eden Gardens. The defending Champions Kolkata Knight Riders take on Delhi Daredevils in the very first game of IPL 2013. Both these teams have enough fire power in them to begin the tournament with a bang. Cricmatez.com brings you the detailed preview of the match between Kolkata Knight Riders vs Delhi Daredevils.
IPL 6 Match 1, Kolkata Knight Riders vs Delhi Daredevils: Preview
Date: 3 April 2013
Time: 20:00 IST | 14:30 GMT
Venue: Eden Gardens, Kolkata
Detailed Preview:
Being the first match of IPL6, everyone is expecting this match to be a Action packed Thriller. Some will be hoping for Brendon McCullum’s heroics in the first match of the inaugural edition of IPL. But this time around, McCullam wont be a part of KKR’s team for the first match against the Daredevils. James Pattinson who is yet to arrive in India is all set to miss the opener. Missing their star players wont be a concern for the Knight Riders because of the foreign back-up they have. Daredevils on the other hand are looking to win their maiden IPL crown are left handicapped without the services of Kevin Pietersen and Jesse Ryder. Mahela Jayawardene, Irfan Pathan and Umesh Yadav are all back from injuries and will be a worrying sign for Delhi Daredevils. Swapping Ross Taylor for Ashish Nehra is not good move by the Daredevils management.
Head to Head:*
Kolkata Knight Riders – 5 | Delhi Daredevils – 4 ( In CLT20 its 1-0 in favour of DD)
Team News:
Kolkata Knight Riders
The men in gold and purple are all fit and are raring to go apart from Brendon McCullam who is recovering from a hamstring injury. His replacement is likely to be either Eoin Morgan or Ryan Ten Doeschate. The form of their skipper Gambhir and Yusuf Pathan should be a worry for them.
Possible Playing XI: Gambhir(c), Bisla(WK), Kallis, Tiwary, Ryan Ten Doeschate, Yusuf Pathan, Debabrata Das, Rajat Bhatia/Shami Ahmed, L Balaji, Sunil Narine, Brett Lee
X-Factor: Yusuf Pathan, KKR’s million dollar man has yet to prove his worth in the last two seasons. He was in a decent form in the domestic season. KKR hope him to carry his form into the IPL and set the tone for them.
Delhi Daredevils
Injuries to their key players are ruining Daredevils’ chance to win the IPL for the first time. Kevin Pietersen, Jesse Ryder, Varun Aaron are all set to miss the entire tournament and Mahela Jayawardene, Irfan Pathan and Umesh Yadav are all back from injuries which means that they lack Match Practice. Virender Sehwag’s lean patch wont help them either.
Possible Playing XI: Sehwag, Warner, Unmukt Chand, Jayawardene, Venugopal Rao, Naman Ojha, Andre Russell, Irfan Pathan, Shahbaz Nadeem, Morne Morkel, Umesh Yadav.
X-Factor: Virender Sehwag has been the backbone of Delhi Daredevils over the past five seasons. This time around he has more responsibilities with the absence of KP. Even with a slump form, Sehwag remains DD’s best bet.
Battles to watch out for
Morne Morkel vs KKR Openers : KKR openers have the tendency to build a solid Platform for their middle order to finish the innings with a bang. Morne Morkel, last edition’s leading wicket taker has the knack of getting wickets in the Powerplay. Morkel against Gambhir and aggressive Bisla is the key to the fortunes of both the teams.
Sehwag vs Sunil Narine: Sehwag has been fearless against this mystery spinner from Trinidad. He tore apart Narine during his knock of 219 in an ODI 2 years ago. If Sehwag can see him off, then it will be advantage Delhi Daredevils.
*One match between KKR and DD has been washed out in 2008.
