IPL 2017 Player battles: Top 4 player encounters to look for in the Delhi Daredevils vs Kolkata Knight Riders match

An exciting match is on the cards when the Delhi Daredevils take on the Kolkata Knight Riders today at the Ferozeshah Kotla for the first of the double-header. KKR are placed second on the points table with 3 wins in 4 games, while the Delhi Daredevils too have only lost one of their 4 matches so far.

Here are 4 key player-to-player battles you can look forward to in this match.

#1 Zaheer Khan vs. Gautam Gambhir

Will Zaheer get the better of Gambhir?

Zaheer Khan’s love for bowling to left-handed batsmen is a poorly kept secret in cricketing circles, with batsmen of the class of Graeme Smith, Kumar Sangakkara, Sanath Jayasuriya and Mathew Hayden featuring among some of his must haunted victims. So is Gambhir’s temptation to poke tentatively or flash hard at the moving ball, early in the innings and this battle between two former India teammates could set the tone right at the start of the innings. 

The veteran left-hand seamer has looked lean and mean in the games so far and has made a statement that he still has all his tricks up his sleeve, bagging 5 wickets in 3 games at an average of 17.80.

Gambhir too is in good form and is second on the run chart with an aggregate of 182 runs in 4 games at an average of 91 and a strike rate of 144.44.