Kolkata Knight Riders meets Deccan Chargers again in a crucial match. KKR has won at home, now it is DCs turn to get home advantage. But, considering the current Point’s tally and team’s performances, DC may have an uphill task at hand to stop KKR from dominating again.
History
The two teams have met six times in three editions. KKR holds an edge winning 4 and losing only 2. Yet, DC can take consolation for 2011 edition in that record of only 2 wins against KKR. While in 2008 and 2010, KKR won both group matches, in 2009 DC won both group matches. Interestingly DC had a strong team in last 3 editions, not KKR had very strong team. Going by law of averages, 2011 may see DC emerging victorious against KKR, although in Twenty20 the match decides the result, not the averages.
Similarities and Dissimilarities
Kolkata Knight Riders and Deccan Chargers share the bottom side of the tournament in one of the three editions, but DC has upper hand in winning the tournament once, while KKR has never reached the semifinal. Both changed captains in first three editions of IPL and now they have new captains. Even the new captains were substitute captains of their earlier IPL teams. Sangakkara captained Kings XI while Gambhri captained Delhi Daredevils, and both produced disastrous results for their teams.
2011 Performances
The Knights lost the first match again Chennai Super Kings, which they should have won, while won the close match against Deccan Chargers at home. Playing back-to-back matches against Rajasthan Royals, they first won the away match chasing a record total, and then ridiculed the Royals batsmen in the Home game. But, against Kochi Tuskers their batsmen could not even chase a target of 132. In the last match, ex-Kinght Gayle-force marooned KKR with a century. In Kotla, Gambhir’s bowlers managed to defeat Delhi Daredevils in low scoring match. In the last match, Gambhir’s men swallowed the strong Kings XI team.
Chargers were thrashed by their erstwhile opponent Rajasthan Royals in the first match. Kolkata Knight Riders also defeated them in a close contest. But, playing at home they registered first ever victory trouncing Royal Challengers Bangalore. But, Kings XI Punjab shattered the dream of getting away with home jinx for Chargers when ex-DC captain and biggest assaulter of the tournament Valthaty marooned DC with runs. In their last match, they defeated Daredevils easily. Expected to spoil Sachin’s birthday, Deccan Chargers succumbed to a shameful defeat against Mumbai Indians in their last match. Against Kochi in last match, one of the best IPL bowling performances by Ishant saw DC easily win in the low scoring match. In the last match they gifted the match to Chennai Super Kings, and strengthened the belief that DC is headed towards bottom.
Player’s Performance in 2011
KKR Player’s performance index shows comparatively better batting performance as they have 3 batsmen scoring above 200 runs, and next is Yusuf who is 8 runs short of 100-club. KKR’s bowling unit has been more effective taking 41 wickets in 8 matches, barring the slaughter by Gayle.
For Deccan, player’s performance index shows Sangakkara and bowlers shining. Sangakkara has crossed 200-barrier, while Chipli, Sohal, Dhawan and Chrisitan have reached 100-run mark. Still, DC batsmen have not showed the capability to reach 150-mark smoothly so often. Bowlers have performed better taking 42 wickets in 8 matches. Captaincy is their key problem. Sangakkara has failed to form the team bond. Probably that is costing DC the matches.
Head-to-Head: KKR 5, DC 2
2008
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KKR def DC by 7 Wickets
KKR def DC by 7 Wickets
2009
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DC def KKR by 8 Wickets
DC def KKR by 6 Wickets
2010
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KKR def DC by 11 Runs
KKR def DC by 24 Runs
2011
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KKR def DC by 9 Runs
Earlier IPL Performances
Deccan Chargers came as the strongest and performed the worst in IPL history by winning only 2 matches and losing 12 matches, the most by any team in IPL history.
KKR lost 50% of their matches, winning 6 and one produced no result.
2009 edition was the worst for KKR, when they lost 10 matches out of 14 played, whereas DC went on become the champion winning 9 of the 16 matches they played.
2010 saw DC reaching the semifinal, finishing 4th while KKR could not reach semifinal even in their third attempt leaving them as the only IPL team to have not been able to qualify for semifinals in three editions.
IPL Performances
KKR has never reached the knockout. In 2008 they had 6 Win, 7 Losses, 1 No Result against DD. In 2009 they Won 3, Lost 10 and again had 1 No Result. In 2010 they had the best performance with 7 Wins and 7 Losses.
Kings XI has reached 2008 semifinals. They won 10 matches and lost 5. In 2009, Kings XI could not reach the semifinal and had even results, winning 7 and losing 7. 2010 saw their worst performance when they won 4 and lost 10.
Who Will Win Today!!
Playing the second group match against each other KKR has an edge. But edges have hardly materialised in IPL 4 where anyone has dwarfed anyone. Still considering the last performances, KKR batting is flowing with confidence, unlike DC whose batsmen are just failing shy of performing. Bowling of DC has improved, still KKR bowling is more balanced. Sangakkara’s poor captaincy has affected DCs performance. Surprising that one of the most successful international captain is struggling to get the team going and there is no bond among the team members. KKR should have it easy again today and win.
Key Battles
Sanga/White vs Lee/Pathan
The contest will be the key to the match. Success of duo of either side will decide the match winner. Lee has not taken much wickets but has performed well to put opposition under pressure. Pathan is one of the most successful bowler. On the other hand Sanga can White can play responsible innings in the interest of team to take DC home.
Kallis/Gambhir vs Steyn and Ishant
The duo of KKR has given some match winning performances, but after thay they have failed to provide much support to their team’s batting. But they can come to form any time and probably today their team needs a lot. Steyn would be desperate to make a strong statement after being omitted from the side in last match against CSK. Ishant on the other hand is back to his normal wayward bowling. Both must fire to shunt KKR chances.
Tiwary/Abdullah vs Sohal/Chipli
Manoj Tiwary,as a batsman and Abdullah as a bowler have been the biggest performers for KKR. Sohal, as opener and Chipli as top order batsman have excelled in DC. The contest for the best local player should bend the edge towards the winning team.
Kolkata Knight Riders Squad
Batsman: Gautam Gambhir (Captain), Brad Haddin (WK), Eoin Morgan, Manvinder Bisla, Shreevats Goswami, Laxmi Shukla, Manoj Tiwary,
Allrounder: Jacques Kallis, Ryan ten Doeschate, Shakib Al Hasan, Yusuf Pathan,
Bowlers: Brett Lee, James Pattinson, Pradeep Sangwan, Jaidev Unadkat, Shami Ahmed, Lakshmipathy Balaji, Rajat Bhatia, Sarabjit Ladda, Iqbal Abdulla
DC Squad
Batsman: Kumar Sangakkara (Captain/Keeper), Jean-Paul Duminy, Michael Lumb, Kevin Pietersen, Anand Rajan, Kedar Devdhar, Shikhar Dhawan, Dwaraka Ravi Teja, Jaydev Shah, Arjun Yadav, Sunny Sohal, Bharat Chipli
Allrounder: Chris Lynn, Rusty Theron, Cameron White, Ashish Reddy, Daniel Christian
Bowlers: Dale Steyn, Ankit Sharma, Akash Bhandari, Manpreet Gony, Harmeet Singh, Ishank Jaggi, Ishan Malhotra, Amit Mishra, Pragyan Ojha, Ishant Sharma
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