As another Saturday arrives with it so does a double header of action in the Indian Premier League and it begins at the DY Patil Stadium as the joint table toppers Gujarat Titans take on the Kolkata Knight Riders.
Gujarat will go back to the top of the table by themselves if they can win this match while Kolkata will be looking to repair the damage that a set of defeats have done to their chances of making it into the top four this term.
Kolkata Knight Riders
The beaten finalists of last season were going along ok this term with three wins from their opening four matches but they have run into a period of turbulence in recent times with three straight defeats. The positive from those losses is that they don’t need to delve too deep into them to work out what has been going wrong. In those matches they have conceded 215/5, 176/3 with 13 balls left and 217/5 so their bowling has fallen apart at the seams.
They have batted well enough in that time but needing to score over 200 to win all the time isn’t going to be a successful route to a title. Kolkata are lucky that they have Andre Russell who can reduce any total to something manageable but even he can’t do it every game so if they are going to turn their season around they are going to need their bowlers to step up and be counted. One problem is among the most expensive is Pat Cummins but they spent too much on him to leave him on the bench.
Gujarat Titans
It was said on this site before the season began that there were obvious flaws in the Gujarat Titans but to be fair to them they haven’t really shown up across the first half of the campaign. They have won five of their six matches which is an incredible start to life in the Indian Premier League. There will be those who criticise them because they could easily have lost four of those five matches they have won but I disagree. When teams keep turning losing positions into winning ones it is because of their inner strength and belief.
Last time out was another such example of Gujarat snatching victory from the jaws of defeat and the real positive from that is that they did it without their captain Hardik Pandya. He should be available for this match given that it has been the best part of a week since they last played. The real strength of this Titans side is their bowlers and you suspect that in a day game they’ll be looking for that unit to go well once again. If they do they certainly have enough batters in good enough form to win this match.
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Key Players
If the Kolkata Knight Riders bowling doesn’t come to the party then they are going to need some Andre Russell pyrotechnics to keep them close. He doesn’t match up great to this Titans attack though so ‘Dre Russ’ will need to buck the trend here.
David Miller was magnificent in the last win for the Gujarat Titans and is rapidly becoming one of the best finishers in the competition. Kolkata are going the distance at the end of the innings at the minute so Miller will be licking his lips here.
Betting
I’ve forever been an advocate of bowlers winning T20 matches and the two bowling units on show here are chalk and cheese in terms of form. Usually you would think the Kolkata Knight Riders have a bit of an edge on their opposition because they have four tight overs from Sunil Narine but they don’t even get that luxury here because Gujarat Titans can bank on four overs of Rashid Khan, and Khan is a horror matchup for the big hitters of Kolkata.
Even with the bat I think the Titans have the edge. One or two down the order are going well for the Knight Riders but the odd Aaron Finch cameo aside the top order isn’t going great guns. While Gujarat will want to sort their opening partnership out moving forward, on the assumption that Hardik Pandya is back in their side for this match they look strong as an ox from number four down and the combination of that batting and a very good bowling attack can see them get the job done here.
Tips
Back Gujarat Titans to beat Kolkata Knight Riders for a 3/10 stake at 2.00 with William Hill
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