Two-time Indian Premier League champions Kolkata Knight Riders kicked off their IPL campaign on a strong note as they eased to a nine wicket victory against the Delhi Daredevils in their opening encounter at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata on 10th April, 2016.
The Kolkata based Eden Gardens outfit were without their talismanic spinner Sunil Narine, who had to fly back to the West Indies to attend his father’s funeral. Moreover, Gautam Gambhir led KKR opted to give Kiwi Twenty20 specialist Colin Munro his IPL debut. KKR also chose Aussie pacer John Hastings over Proteas seamer Morne Morkel while also providing an opportunity to veteran Aussie spinner Brad Hogg over Bangladeshi allrounder Shakib Al Hasan. Even though the Knight Riders experimented with their lineup, they were still convincing in their win, performing well both in their bowling and batting. Jacques Kallis, Wasim Akram and Simon Katich will be pleased with KKR’s performance but must avoid squad complacency in addition to facing a selection dilemma ahead of their match against Mumbai Indians.
The Knight Riders are in serious selection dilemma!
KKR will host the defending champions Mumbai Indians at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata on 13th April, 2016. KKR is currently facing a huge selection dilemma as Narine has been made available for selection against MI. While crowd favourite Shakib who was kept on the bench in the last fixture is also struggling to get a spot in the KKR playing XI along with Morkel. Russell, Hastings and Hogg are all likely to keep their places in the playing XI after being influential and decisive in the previous match, the trio took eight wickets collectively to restrict DD for less than a hundred. The only change that KKR are likely to make is that of replacing Munro with Narine. KKR batting lineup is already equipped enough to score runs while Narine’s inclusion is expected to give Gambhir more bowling option on a spin friendly Eden Gardens pitch. The 27-year-old talismanic Windies will spearhead KKR’s bowling attack against MI.
Kolkata Knight Riders Probable XI vs. Mumbai Indians – Eden Gardens – Kolkata
Gautam Gambhir(C), Robin Uthappa(Wk), Manish Pandey, Surya Kumar Yadav, Yusuf Pathan, Andre Russell, Piyush Chawla, Umesh Yadav, John Hastings, Brad Hogg, Sunil Narine.