The fourth round of matches in the Indian Premier League season begins on Monday when the Kolkata Knight Riders host the Delhi Daredevils at Eden Gardens in a contest which sees Gautam Gambhir returning to Kolkata.
Both sides have a win and two defeats on their record for the campaign so far so they should both be eager to pick up the victory here and level up their ledger. Whoever loses here will put a bit of pressure on themselves moving forward.
Kolkata Knight Riders
It all started quite well for the Kolkata Knight Riders when they eased past the Royal Challengers Bangalore but then they lost out in a high scoring epic against the Chennai Super Kings and were touched off by the Sunrisers Hyderabad in their last outing. That last defeat was no shame but in the previous two matches they leaked runs which is a concern.
Another minor worry, which could easily turn into a fully blown issue, is the sudden change to their batting line up for their last match. Sunil Narine had been successful in his pinch hitting role of the last season or so and then out of the blue he is dropped down to number four and their batting never really got going as a result, albeit against a gun attack.
Delhi Daredevils
After successive defeats to open up the campaign, albeit one of them heavily rain affected, the Delhi Daredevils sparked into life when they took Mumbai Indians apart in a high quality run chase. If you were being critical then you could ask what exactly they beat in the Indians but they still had to hold their nerve, which they did nicely.
Ricky Ponting was ruthless ahead of that match and that bodes well for the Daredevils going forward but if they are going to be a competitive element in this tournament they are going to have to come up with a combination that restricts sides when they are in the field. They have leaked oil in all three matches with the exception of Trent Boult.
Team News
I’m not expecting any personnel change from the Kolkata Knight Riders but I would be amazed if they don’t restore Sunil Narine to the top of the innings where he has done such a good job.
Chris Morris missed the win over Mumbai through illness and if he has recovered from that then Ponting will have a decision to make whether to play the South African or stick with an unchanged side.
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Betting
I don’t think I could trust either of these sides before I know the outcome of the toss. Both bowling attacks have shipped runs at a crazy rate so I fully expect the chasing side to have every chance of prevailing in this one. Without knowing who it will be who is chasing I’ll head to the side markets for a punt.
Although the match here on Saturday was low scoring a lot of that was down to Kolkata changing their line up and the Sunrisers attack being so good. The Delhi one is nothing like as strong but their batting line up is loaded with power. There is no lack of power in the Kolkata batting either so I’m expecting the sixes to flow in this one. In the opening match on this ground we saw 19 sixes and I think we will see near that number here. I’m confident that the over 13.5 sixes line will be covered.
Tips
WON – Back Over 13.5 sixes for a 4/10 stake at 1.91 with 888sport
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