KKR set to extend spin formula at home
Match facts
Thursday, May 7, 2015
Start time 2000 local (1430 GMT)
Big Picture
Spin, spin, spin. It's been Kolkata Knight Riders' tried-and-tested formula to win at home, and their last match - a 35-run win over Sunrisers Hyderabad - showcased it in exaggerated proportions. Perhaps the pitch they played on was a response to the slightly wobbly position they began that match in - a loss might have caused them to slip out of the top four.
It's unlikely the surface for their next game will change too much, even though they are in a far better position now, even though their opponents, Delhi Daredevils, possess a tasty spin attack themselves. Brad Hogg and Piyush Chawla (and possibly Johan Botha too), against Amit Mishra and Imran Tahir should make for an interesting contest.
Daredevils have lost three of their last four games, and sit not too far above bottom-placed Kings XI Punjab. They are still in with a chance of finishing in the top four, but have only four games left, and cannot afford to take any time finding a way to win matches. A defeat to Knight Riders may just end any realistic hopes they have.
Form guide
Kolkata Knight Riders WLWLL (last five completed matches, most recent first)
Delhi Daredevils LLWLW
Watch out for…
He's scored his runs at a strike rate of over 140, but he's only faced 86 balls this season. From that stat it might seem like Angelo Mathews is batting too far down the order, but that hasn't always been the case. In his last two innings, he came in with a reasonable number of overs left, got starts, and got out, finishing with scores of 16 and 12. Mathews will definitely want to contribute more substantially when he comes in with eight or nine overs to go.
He isn't spoken about in the same breath as Sunil Narine or Brad Hogg, but Piyush Chawla's legspin has been a vital facet of Knight Riders' success. This season, he has taken seven wickets while conceding only 6.96 runs an over. He gets a lot of help from the Eden Gardens surface, no doubt, but opposition teams haven't really been able to go after him.
Stats and trivia
- Robin Uthappa has 22 stumpings in the IPL, a record he shares with MS Dhoni. But he's taken only 81 innings, to Dhoni's 114, to reach the mark
- Four players likely to play this match - Gautam Gambhir, Amit Mishra, Piyush Chawla and Manish Pandey - feature in the top five of the 'Most ducks in the IPL' list
Quotes
"Brad Hogg has done a fantastic job in Sunil Narine's absence. We wanted a spinner that we thought a lot of batters would struggle to pick. Certainly Brad is in that category. Even the players who play with him regularly find him difficult to pick."
Knight Riders coach Trevor Bayliss
Karthik Krishnaswamy is a senior sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo