It is the battle of the teams from the extreme east and west of the country. Kolkata Knight Riders, the 2-time champions take on the table-toppers Gujarat Lions in what looks all-set to be a cracker of a contest. It will be KKR taking on GL in their own den, which looks to be fast-paced pitch. But what could seriously dent the home team’s confidence is the fact that Ravindra Jadeja won’t feature in the match. He is an asset any side he plays in. His absence is bound to hurt them. On the other the you will have to look out for the battle of the Kiwis, which is bound to be a fascinating battle, as Trent Boult will be bowling to Brendon Mc Cullum.
Apart from that Gujarat Lions will be top heavy as they will have Brendon and Dwayne Smith, followed by Suresh Raina and the Aaron Finch, sans Jadeja they wear a depleted look in the bowling department.
Kolkata Knight Riders on the other hand have a balanced squad, with a settled opening pair Gautam Gambhir and Robin Utthappa at the top and then the big-hitting Chris Lynn and then the allrounder Shakib-al-Hasan. Even in the bowling department, you have a Sunil Narine, who could prove to be a handful.
Match time: 08:00 pm IST
Gujarat Lions: Brendon McCullum, Dwayne Smith, Aaron Finch, Suresh Raina (captain), Dinesh Karthik (wicketkeeper), Ishan Kishan, James Faulkner, Praveen Kumar, Shadab Jakati, Dhawal Kulkarni, Shivil Kaushik
Kolkata Knight Riders: Gautam Gambhir (captain), Robin Uthappa (wicketkeeper), Manish Pandey, Yusuf Pathan, Suryakumar Yadav, Rovman Powell, Chris Lynn, Chris Woakes, Kuldeep Yadav, Trent Boult, Piyush Chawla
