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Kolkata Knight Riders v Delhi Daredevils, IPL 2012, Kolkata

Delhi duo up against each other

The Preview By Anoop Dubey

April 5,2012

Related Links Series/Tournaments: Indian Premier League Teams: Delhi Daredevils | India | Kolkata Knight Riders

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They are team-mates, opening partners and friends, but on Thursday, Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir will knock gloves only at the toss, and will proceed to lead their respective IPL sides against each other. Personally, and internationally, if you were to take out Sehwag's ODI double-century, the duo has had an ordinary time of it. Gambhir hasn't scored a Test century in two years; Sehwag last managed one in November 2010. In that regard this could be a no-win situation: if they do really well as captains here, it won't make any difference to their current standing in international cricket, but failure will add up.

Sehwag's team, Delhi Daredevils, knows failure well from last year when they finished last. Kolkata Knight Riders' upswing under Gambhir, though, took them to the fourth spot. Daredevils, who have more ground to make, will have to do without Mahela Jayawardene, Kevin Pietersen and David Warner for the first few games, which will be a challenge. Knight Riders are more settled in that regard, and should start as favourites, especially given the home advantage of a traditionally tacky surface.

   Players to watch

Australia may or may not be relieved at his absence in the Test series, but Knight Riders are sure elated with their new acquisition, the all-sorts fingerspinner from Trinidad, Sunil Narine. His economy-rate of under five and average of under 15 speak for themselves.

Daredevils have tapped the West Indies Twenty20 freelance market to their advantage too, acquiring the services of the explosive allrounder Andre Russell. Like with Narine, there is no point holding back Russell either.

2011 head-to-head

Knight Riders and Daredevils played each other just once last year. Manoj Tiwary's 61 off 47 balls took Knight Riders to 148. Daredevils never came to terms with the slowness of the Kotla surface, and lost by 17.