IPL 2016, DD vs KKR Playing 11: Probable line-up for Gautam Gambhir led Kolkata Knight Riders
The Kolkata Knight Riders will take on the Delhi Daredevils in the 26th match of the VIVO IPL 2016 at the Feroz Shah Kotla Stadium in Delhi on Saturday. KKR have easily been among the best teams in the tournament so far with 4 victories from 6 matches and are placed second on the points table despite losing their last game to the Mumbai Indians. The Daredevils have also been good but their performance has been a little inconsistent as they have won 3 matches and lost 2. The two teams have met previously this season at the Eden Gardens where the Kolkata team brushed aside Delhi by a margin of 9 wickets. We can expect that the upcoming DD-KKR encounter will not be as one-sided as the first one.
Let's take a closer look at the line-up that may play for the Kolkata Knight Riders:
Batting
The KKR batting in this edition of the IPL has primarily revolved around their in-form openers, skipper Gautam Gambhir and Robin Uthappa. Together, they have scored a major share of the team's runs with Gambhir having a tally of 296 runs and Uthappa getting 170. Although Kolkata are missing out on Manish Pandey's presence due to illness, Suryakumar Yadav has made up for it to some extent.
Yusuf Pathan has also been scoring quick runs towards the end to provide the innings momentum. However, there is nothing much to the Knight Riders' batting aside from these players. BBL star Chris Lynn failed to make an impact with the bat in his first match this year whereas Shakib Al Hasan has been struggling to get bat to ball.
The middle order will need to come good for the Kolkata Knight Riders if they want to continue their impressive run in the tournament.
All-rounders
The all-rounders have been quite a disappointment for Kolkata in the 2016 season of the IPL. Both Shakib and Russell have performed decently with the ball; however, they have been completely off-colour when it comes to batting. The latter has still played a couple of brisk knocks but the Bangladeshi all-rounder has not done well at all.
Pathan's all-round skills are not being put to use by skipper Gambhir despite him having picked up a wicket in his only over this season. KKR will require a solid effort from the all-rounders in the upcoming matches to hang on to their position in the top half of the table.
Bowling
Barring a couple of games, the Knight Riders bowling unit has put up a great showing in the 9th edition of the IPL. Nearly all their bowlers have been among the wickets with Umesh Yadav picking 6 to be KKR's leading wicket-taker. Sunil Narine has made a brilliant comeback to the side with 5 wickets in 4 matches while Russell has also picked up the same number of wickets.
Piyush Chawla and Morne Morkel have claimed 4 wickets each whereas benched spinner Brad Hogg also grabbed 3 wickets in the 2 matches he has played. Bowling is certainly not on the list of issues Kolkata Knight Riders are facing this year but the bowlers need to remain consistent for them in the matches to come.
Probable Playing XI
Gautam Gambhir (c), Robin Uthappa (wk), Suryakumar Yadav, Sheldon Jackson, Chris Lynn, Yusuf Pathan, Andre Russell, Piyush Chawla, Sunil Narine, Umesh Yadav, Morne Morkel.