Kolkata Knight Riders will face Gujarat Titans in the 35th match of IPL 15 today. Kolkata has won only three matches in 7 matches played so far, while Gujarat has won 5 matches by playing six matches. This match will be played at DY Patil Stadium in Mumbai from 3:30 PM.
The Gujarat team is looking strong in every sense. All its players are seen playing as a unit, while on the contrary, the news is coming out about the captain and coach dispute in the Kolkata camp.
KKR vs. GT: Match Preview
Gujarat is playing like a champion team
The biggest question for Gujarat has been that if Hardik Pandya does not play in any match due to fitness problems, how does the team perform. David Miller and Rashid Khan gave the answer with their stormy batting against Chennai Super Kings. By scoring an unbeaten 94 off 51 balls at a strike rate of 184, Miller proved that Gujarat's middle order is not solely based on Hardik.
Rashid completely changed the course of the match by collecting 25 runs in 1 over of Chris Jordan. Gujarat has been consistently performing well with T20 specialist bowlers like Mohammed Shami, Alzarri Joseph, Lockie Ferguson and Rashid Khan. If Hardik Pandya comes back in the match, then the challenge in front of Kolkata will be big.
All the players of KKR will have to understand the responsibility
There seems to be an excessive dependence on Kolkata star players. If Andre Russell does not score runs in the middle order, then the victory of this team looks difficult. When Russell got bowled on Ashwin's first ball against Rajasthan, the team could not win despite Shreyas Iyer's brilliant 85.
After an innings of Pat Cummins, the team is expecting the same kind of batting from him in every match. Kolkata's opening pair is constantly reshuffled, but it has not got a solid start in the matches so far. Unless every player in the team understands their role as him, it will be difficult for Kolkata to register consecutive wins.
KKR vs. GT: Likely XI
KKR Probable XI: Venkatesh Iyer, Aaron Finch, Shreyas Iyer (c), Nitish Rana, Andre Russell, Sheldon Jackson (wk), Sunil Narine, Pat Cummins, Shivam Mavi, Umesh Yadav, Varun Chakravarthy
GT Probable XI: Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Shubman Gill, Vijay Shankar, Hardik Pandya (c), David Miller, Abhinav Manohar, Rahul Tewatia, Rashid Khan, Alzarri Joseph, Lockie Ferguson, Mohammed Shami
