IPL 2017 Player Battles: Top 4 player encounters to look for in Kolkata Knight Riders vs Gujarat Lions match
Battling injuries to key players, Kolkata Knight Riders and Gujarat Lions will kickstart their IPL campaign on Friday. Although both have sides have lost some important players due to injury, thanks to their strong squads, both sides have plenty of match winners among them.
Extra Cover: IPL 2017: Gujarat Lions (GL) Probable Playing 11 against Kolkata Knight Riders
As these cricket legends and mavericks face off against each other, we bring out some interesting player battles which will be entertaining as well as exciting to watch.
#1 Suresh Raina vs Sunil Narine
This will be ‘The contest of the match’. This battle between the leader of Gujarat’s batting, Suresh Raina, versus the talisman of KKR’s bowling, Sunil Narine, will guarantee high-quality cricket to the fans.
After being sidelined from the Indian team, Raina will enter this tournament with several things to prove. Runs in this IPL could pave a way for his comeback into the national team, while failure in this season could put him further away from the reckoning.
Extra Cover: IPL 2017: Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) Probable Playing 11 against Gujarat Lions
Sunil Narine's fate is also on similar lines. His performance after his action was cleared is nowhere near to what it was before the suspension. The West Indian will have to pull out some more tricks to stay relevant in this format and in the IPL.
So far Raina has enjoyed complete success over Narine, having faced 43 balls and scoring 65 runs. The critical aspect, however, is that Narine has never taken Raina’s wicket.
In both teams’ first matches of the season, this rivalry between Narine and Raina will reach newer heights as both players are playing to prove people wrong.