What

Twice-champions Kolkata Knight Riders take on the Delhi Daredevils in Match 2 of Vivo IPL 2016.

KKR narrowly missed qualifying for the Playoffs last season. From a 16-24 win-loss record in the first three seasons, there’s been a complete turnaround of fortunes for KKR under the leadership of Gautam Gambhir. They not only have a 44-33 win-loss record in the following five seasons, but have also been crowned twice in the period.

Delhi Daredevils meanwhile haven’t had the best of times in recent seasons. The franchise were table-toppers in the 2012 season, but have thereafter finished closer to the bottom; they finished at the floor of the table twice in 2013 & 2014 and finished seventh among eight teams in the 2015 season. For Vivo IPL 2016, the franchise has revamped its support staff and has brought in Paddy Upton (coach) and Rahul Dravid (mentor) and will be hoping for better results.

When

10 April 2016, 2000 Hrs IST

Where

Eden Gardens, Kolkata

Weather

Temperature: Max 32°c, Min 31°c
Humidity: Max 60%
Wind: 13kmph

The Protagonists

KKR have generally relied on their openers Gautam Gambhir and Robin Uthappa to lay a platform for their explosive middle order. That formula has worked for them in the past and one sees no reason why they will want to change that. In the middle order, look out for Manish Pandey and Suryakumar Yadav, who have enhanced their reputations further post IPL 2015. On the bowling front, watch out for the vastly-improved Jaydev Unadkat, who took a total of 29 wickets across the three Ranji Trophy knockout matches and the Irani Cup.

Given the kind of form he has been in in the last eighteen months, Shreyas Iyer will be a central character in Delhi Daredevils’ plans – certainly where runs are concerned. The Mumbai lad, who was DD’s top run-getter in the IPL last season, has grown leaps and bounds in the following twelve months, and has become somewhat of a run-machine. Among others, DD will expect runs from Quinton de Kock – who was named in the ICC’s Team of the World T20 2016 – and wickets from the Imran Tahir. Skipper Zaheer Khan returns to competitive cricket after nearly twelve months, and he will want to lead from the front.

And how can one forget Carlos Brathwaite? After his spectacular blast in the dying moments of the ICC World T20 2016 final that helped West Indies steal the trophy from the clutches of the English right at the very end, the focus will certain be on the player from Barbados who was signed up at the Vivo IPL Player Auction 2016 for a whopping INR 4.2 Crore.

Head to Head in IPL

The Kolkata Knight Riders have a 9-6 win-loss record in IPL matches against the Delhi Daredevils. KKR won both clashes against DD last season; Gautam Gambhir’s 60 and Yusuf Pathan’s unbeaten 40 helped them to a 6-wicket win in Delhi, while Piyush Chawla four wickets to knock the stuffing of DD’s run-chase at the Eden Gardens.

Trivia

The Kolkata Knight Riders have a 9-1 win-loss record from their home matches in the last two seasons. Across IPL 2014 & 2015, the only home fixture KKR have lost is their match against Royal Challengers Bangalore in 2015.

Gautam Gambhir is the second-most experienced captain in the T20 format; he has so far captained in 128 T20 matches. His opposite number – the Delhi Daredevils captain Zaheer Khan – has been captain in only 4 T20 matches previously.

Shreyas Iyer was the highest run-getter in the Ranji Trophy 2015-16; he scored 1321 runs in eleven matches at an average of 73.38 and a staggering strike-rate of 92.70.

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