KKR are on a merry run this season with 4 wins out of 5 games and are sitting pretty at the second spot of the points table. One more win today will push them to the table top and they are up against Gujarat Lions, a mighty batting unit under serious pump this season. GL would be dying for a win and they will surely look to push the home favorite KKR to the wall tonight.When these two teams met earlier this season, KKR cruised to a 10-wicket victory – thanks, to Gautam Gambhir and Chris Lynn’s record-breaking unbeaten 184-run opening partnership. Batting first, the Lions posted 183-4 riding on Suresh Raina’s unbeaten 68, which the visitors chased down quite comfortably in 14.5 overs.

KKR start as favorites as they look a solid and strong team when compared to GL. It’s a home ground for KKR and they are not putting a foot wrong this season. Should be interesting to see if GL give a tough competition or else it will be a cake walk KKR.

KKR vs GL Head to Head – 

Overall:

Matches played – 3

Kolkata Knight Riders won – 1

Gujarat Lions won – 2

 

KKR journey so far-

Played – 5

Won- 4

Lost -1

KKR has always been a strong side right from the first season. Gautham Gambhir is leading the team pretty well from the front with his consistent batting performances. The team boasts a strong batting and bowling lineups, although their star batsman Chris Lynn had to sit out due to a shoulder injury. This team seems to be a really well-balanced side and they did perform that way too so far. This nucleus of this KKR side has almost remained the same over the years. They keep their business simple, one of the two Gambhir or Uthappa bats through the innings and the other batsman rotate around them. They have a strong spin bowling department which is backed by real good international quicks like Boult and Woakes. This is a team to beat man!!!

Batting–

When we felt Chris Lynn’s absence will hurt the opening stand, there came Sunil Narine out of nowhere and did a Lynn with a 37 off 17 blistering knock. Gautam Gambhir has been at his usual best registering 2 half centuries. Uthappa has found some form with a blistering 39 ball 68 against SRH. The top order is aptly supported by the firepower of Pandey and Yusuf Pathan in the end.  Pandey has been really solid in the middle order and he smacked a match winning 69 against DD. This teams always find a hero to take them home with the bat.
Bowling–

When you got the likes of Boult, Umesh, Coulter-Nile Woakes and Grandhomme in the fast bowling department and the likes of Narine, Chawla, and Kuldeep sharing the spin department you know that you got multiple reliable options up your sleeve. This versatility in the bowling has done a world of good to KKR as they were able to control the game in the middle and death overs as well. This is a good attack backed by some aggressive captaincy.

Probable XI: Gautam Gambhir(C), Robin Uthappa(WK), Manish Pandey, SuryaKumar Yadav, Yusuf Pathan, Colin de Grandhomme, Chris Woakes, Sunil Narine, Kuldeep Yadav, Umesh Yadav, Nathan Coulter-Nile

GL journey so far-

Played – 5

Won- 1

Lost -4

Gujarat Lions team is currently on the last position in the points table. The team which managed to play Qualifiers in the last year’s IPL tournament couldn’t continue that momentum this year. As the key players in the team like Dwayne Bravo, Ravindra Jadeja couldn’t play the first two games, the team’s bowling unit looked out of place. The team management emphasized on strengthening the batting heavily and it backfired too. The inclusion of Jadeja may not have changed their fortunes but Andrew Tye was certainly a star. Their batting also has found some momentum now with McCullum and Raina in prime form. Hope good days are ahead for this Raina-led side.

Batting –

The batting unit of Gujarat Lions with Brendon McCullum, Aaron Finch, Dwayne Smith, Suresh Raina, Dinesh Karthik and Jason Roy is certainly a formidable one. More so because all of them have found some form finally. It is said that Dwayne Bravo is practicing hard in the net sessions. He will still require few more days to get match fit. Raina has led from the front but it was the star NZ batsmanMcCullum who played an unbelievable inning but couldn’t just finish it. Ishan Kishan looked spectacular too in that chase but it was too little too late for GL.

Bowling-

The lesser we talk the better it is about GL’s bowling. They have totally underperformed with the likes of Shivil Kaushik bowling way off the radar. They completely lacked discipline in both their matches. Jadeja’s inclusion also did not change their fortunes. But it was an Aussie who changed the tide for GL with a hat trick. He looked deadly in the games he played. It is the other bowlers like Munaf, Dhawal Kulkarni, Praveen Kumar who need to raise their hand in these crunching games.

GL VS RCB Predicted XI: Brendon McCullum, Dwayne Smith, Suresh Raina (C), Aaron Finch, Ishan Kishan, Dinesh Karthik, Andrew Tye, Ravindra Jadeja, Praveen Kumar, Basil Thampi, Dhawal Kulkarni.

AllIndiaRoundup Predicts:

Well, every cricket loving Indian is a cricket expert and every expert has his own predictions for IPL. Right from cricket pundits sitting in com boxes to the waiters at a local Mumbai cafe, everyone is an expert in India. We @AIR thought why not try out our luck by predicting these matches. Of course, we would appreciate your support in making these calls. You can comment and tell us who is that you think will win today’s match.

Our Predictions so far-

Hell yaa!!!! Last five matches we made the right calls and ended up on the winning side.

5/5

 

 

KKR vs GL Match Predictions-

OUR WINNER – Kolkata Knight Riders

 WHY?

• Strong and experienced batting for KKR
• Strong spin combination for KKR compared to GL.
• inconsistent GL bowling attack.
• Variety in both bowling and batting departments for KKR.
• Home ground advantage.

KKR vs GL Score prediction –

First batting:

GL –155-165

KKR – 175-185

Our Star performers Today-

Gambhir, Uthappa, Pandey, Kuldeep

McCullum, Raina, Smith