Kolkata Knight Riders v Delhi Daredevils, IPL 2010, Kolkata April 6, 2010

Patchy Kolkata run into red-hot Delhi

Match facts

Wednesday, April 7
Start time 2000 (1430GMT)

Big Picture

It's a no-brainer. Delhi Daredevils start as the favourites but perhaps the fact that they can afford to lose while Kolkata Knight Riders are desperate for a win can make things interesting. However, it's highly unlikely that Delhi will relax when they are still two wins away from making it into the final four.

Delhi have come back after a mini-blip and have been combining well as a team. Amit Mishra has sparkled with the ball and the bowling looks more potent with the arrival of Daniel Vettori. Delhi's strengths are known: Strong openers who are both capable of winning matches on their own, a good middle order in Gautam Gambhir and Paul Collingwood, and one of the better lower middle-order batsman of the tournament in Dinesh Karthik. That AB de Villiers and Tillakaratne Dilshan are still warming the bench is an indicator how well things are going for Delhi.

Whenever Kolkata have been in dire straits and looked to have completely lost the plot, they have bounced back with a win. Saurav Ganguly came good a couple of matches ago and Chris Gayle played a fiery knock in the last game. Both have to come good if Kolkata are to push Delhi. They will play four of their remaining six games at home, on a slow surface, though Delhi are more than comfortable playing on sluggish surfaces. Kolkata's bowlers couldn't defend a strong 201 in the last game against Punjab and if they don't turn up with their A game, Delhi can give them a hammering.

Team talk

Brendon McCullum is likely to replace David Hussey. It allows Kolkata, who couldn't defend a a big total against Punjab in the last game, to bring in an extra bowler instead of Wriddhiman Saha. Delhi are unlikely to make many changes, though their combination will change if Dirk Nannes is fit again.

Head to head

Delhi 3 Kolkata 1
Kolkata won the opening encounter between the teams, with Shoaib Akhtar grabbing 4 for 11; the return fixture was abandoned without a ball being bowled. Delhi had the better of both games in South Africa, winning by nine wickets in Durban and seven wickets in Johannesburg. In the first game this year, David Warner smashed a hundred to help Delhi beat Kolkata by 40 runs.

In the spotlight

Amit Mishra: It's as if he is out to prove that the wrong leggie has been picked for the World Twenty20. He has been mixing his leg breaks and googlies superbly with his front-of-the-hand sliders and has troubled most batsmen. Even with the presence of Vettori in the side, it will be Mishra who will be the main spinner.

David Warner: It's a simple technique that he deploys. He clears the front foot and either swings through the line to the on side or cuts over the off-side field if its slightly shorter and pushed across him.

Prime Numbers

  • David Warner holds the record for the most number of catches in the tournament: Seven catches. He also holds the record for most number of catches in a game: four.

  • Paul Collingwood has hit more sixes than fours: Ten sixes to eight fours.

Sriram Veera is a staff writer at Cricinfo

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