Venue: Dubai International Cricket Stadium
Date: Saturday, April 19
Start time: 20:00 IST
Weather: Mostly sunny
Team News:
Kolkata Knight Riders
KKR performed like a unit in the match against Mumbai Indians, with Manish Pandey and Jacques Kallis bailing the team out of early trouble. The bowling looks in great shape with Sunil Narine and Morne Morkel bowling admirably, but the concern for KKR will be the poor form of skipper Gautam Gambhir. The lower middle order also failed to finish the innings positively and they will be keen to work on these areas as the tournament goes on. The one forced change will be in the middle order, as Yusuf Pathan has flown back to India for the birth of his second child. His place could go to Bengal batsman Debabrata Das.
Probable XI: 1 Gautam Gambhir (wk), 2 Jacques Kallis, 3 Manish Pandey, 4 Robin Uthappa (wk), 5 Debabrata Das, 6 Shakib Al Hasan, 7 Suryakumar Yadav, 8 Piyush Chawla, 9 R Vinay Kumar, 10 Morne Morkel, 11 Sunil Narine
Delhi Daredevils
The lack of big scores in the Daredevils top order proved to be their undoing in the first match against RCB. Kevin Pietersen's absence at the top proved to be a huge factor and JP Duminy and Ross Taylor were the only batsmen to make a significant contribution. The bowling lack penetration and they were not helped by some dropped catches in the outfield. Daredevils will have to put in a better show with both bat and ball if they have to make good progress in this tournament.
Probable XI: 1 Quinton de Kock, 2 Murali Vijay, 3 Dinesh Karthik (capt/wk), 4 Manoj Tiwary, 5 JP Duminy, 6 Ross Taylor, 7 Wayne Parnell, 8 Shahbaz Nadeem, 9 Rahul Sharma, 10 Mohammed Shami, 11 Jaydev Unadkat
Key match-ups:
Jacques Kallis v Mohammed Shami: With KKR in trouble against Mumbai Indians, Kallis stood up and played a wonderful knock. He hung in when conditions were tough and opened up in style once he had gotten his eye in. Shami has struck early at regular intervals and he will be DD's key bowler if they have to make inroads in the KKR line-up.
JP Duminy v Sunil Narine: DD got to a decent score after a poor start thanks to Duminy. However, he will have to take a more thoughtful approach against the guile of Narine. Having picked up four wickets in the opening match, Narine will once again be the trump for KKR.
Watch out for:
If Kallis' knock was wonderful, Manish Pandey's innings in the opening game was vital. He took his time and attacked when the opportunity was presented to him. His 64 off 53 balls and in the company of Kallis, KKR flourished. Pandey will once again be a vital cog in the middle order for KKR.
Having missed most of the 2013-14 season with injury, Manoj Tiwary failed to contribute in the first match when he was dismissed cheaply. Daredevils will be banking on Tiwary to make some decent contributions and to make it on a consistent basis.
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