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Delhi Daredevils vs Kolkata Knight Riders, IPL 2015, Match 17 at Delhi Preview: KKR, DD look to continue winning ways

KKR and DD will hope to build on their victories in the previous game.

KKR and DD will not want to be complacent at this stage as they face-off © IANS
KKR and DD will not want to be complacent at this stage as they face-off © IANS

Defending champions, Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), take on Delhi Daredevils (DD) in Match 17 of Indian Premier League (IPL) 2015 at the Feroz Shah Kotla Stadium in Delhi on Monday. This is the fourth game for KKR, and the fifth  for DD, with both the teams tied on four points each. Umesh Yadav: I was trying to vary my lengths while bowling to Glenn Maxwell

Both KKR and DD have had mixed starts to their IPL 2015 campaign. KKR won their opening game to Mumbai Indians (MI) at home, followed by a loss to RCB, again at home, but bounced back to wining ways as they defeated Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) at Pune. DD lost to Chennai Super Kings (CSK) at Chennai, before suffering another loss to Rajasthan Royals (RR) at home. However, they are now on a roll after back-to-back victories against KXIP at Pune and Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) at Visakapatnam. Russell thinks installing speed gun on his bat is a good idea

Considering the team’s performance in the previous game, DD had a good outing with the bat, as opener Shreyas Iyer scored a brilliant 60, followed by a healthy 54 by the skipper JP Duminy, as they posted a competitive total of 167. And when it came with the ball, it was a surprise as it was Duminy, who claimed 4 for just 17 to rip the SRH batting line-up apart and register their second win on the trot. Gautam Gambhir brands Andre Russell a “new breed” of cricketers

KKR being the defending champions, had a thrilling outing against the runners-up of the last edition, KXIP, whom they beat in the final to lift their second IPL trophy. Their bowling was not a one-man show as it was Umesh Yadav, who claimed 3 for 33, followed by a brace from Morne Morkel and Andre Russell for 27 and 39, respectively. However, when it came to the bat,  it was only the West Indies all-rounder Andre Russell, who sent the ball to all parts of the ground with a quick 36-ball 66, which helped KKR recover from a dim position, as his explosive batting lead KKR to victory. He was also adjudged the Man of the match for his heroic performance. Coulter-Nile says last over finish against SRH spiked his blood pressure

Thus, going by the recent performance, DD, who have won two games in a row are highly unlikely to disturb their winning combination  and would more or less stick with the same team. Although Mayank Agarwal did not have an impact the the top, he might be given another go considering he got a brilliant half-century against KXIP to set up a much needed win. PHOTOS: Sunrisers Hyderabad vs Delhi Daredevils, IPL 2015 Match 13 at Visakhapatnam

In the bowling department, Dominic Joseph is likely to keep his place and Jaydev Unadkat might spend a few games on the sidelines as a result. KKR, on the other hand, too would hate to disturb their winning squad and are most likely to go with an unchanged squad.  Albie Morkel sets world record, goes past Kieron Pollard

It could be a runs galore at the Feroz Shah Kotla in Delhi, as the ground is small and both sides have quite a few explosive batsmen at their disposal. The winner of this match is a little difficult to predict as both teams are coming at the back off morale boosting wins. But DD have the home advantage, but they have a gruesome task of restricting the defending champions and registering their third straight win in the tournament. IPL 2015: Gautam Gambhir first to 25 IPL fifties

Squads:

Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR): Gautam Gambhir (c), Sunil Narine, Manish Pandey, Robin Uthappa (wk), Umesh Yadav, Yusuf Pathan, Andre Russell, Ryan ten Doeschate, Shakib Al Hasan, Kuldeep Yadav, Morne Morkel, Azhar Mahmood, Johan Botha, KC Cariappa, Piyush Chawla, Pat Cummins, Aditya Garhwal, Brad Hogg, Sheldon Jackson, Sumit Narwal, Veer Pratap Singh, Vaibhav Rawal, Suryakumar Yadav.

Delhi Daredevils: JP Duminy (c), Quinton de Kock (wk), Mayank Agarwal, Manoj Tiwary, Yuvraj Singh, Saurabh Tiwary, Angelo Mathews, Kedar Jadhav, Imran Tahir, Amit Mishra, Shahbaz Nadeem, Zaheer Khan, Jaydev Unadkat, Mohammed Shami, CM Gautam, Gurinder Sandhu, Jayant Yadav, Albie Morkel, Srikar Bharat, Marcus Stoinis, Dominic Joseph Muthuswamy, Shreyas Iyer, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Karapak Jiyas, Travis Head.

Time: 20:00 IST | 14:30 GMT

(Ayush Gupta is a reporter at CricketCountry. A passionate supporter of Manchester United, he idolises Roger Federer and is also a World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) maniac. He can be followed on Twitter @Ayush24x7)

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