IPL 2018, DD vs KKR: 5 player battles to look forward to 

The Delhi Daredevils’ captain Gautam Gambhir stepped down this week and in their first game under new captain Shreyas Iyer, they welcome the Kolkata Knight Riders at the Feroz Shah Kotla tonight. DD are at the bottom of the table with 1 win in 6 and would need to win at least 6 out of the next 8 to have any chance of making it to the playoffs.

If they are to do it, then their campaign must be restarted tonight against KKR, a team which has traditionally dominated them. KKR beat them comfortably in the 1st encounter between these two sides and it is not an exaggeration to say that DD must be at their best if they are to win today. KKR themselves are coming off a heavy defeat against Kings XI Punjab and would like to get back to winning ways immediately.

The game will, of course, be decided by some of the individual battles that will take place tonight and here is a look at 5 of the most important ones.

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#5 Amit Mishra v Chris Lynn

Both DD and Amit Mishra had a horror start to the tournament when the bowling attack was put to the sword by KL Rahul in the game against KXIP. The leg-spinner went for more than 11 an over in the game and did not make a reappearance in the team till their previous game against the same opponents. In a low scoring game, he helped DD exert control over the opponents and he is expected to keep his place in the side today against KKR.

He will be crucial for DD when the come up against KKR’s opening batsman Chris Lynn. The Australian has been amongst the runs but he has not been his usual self so far and if they are to keep him quiet then Mishra’s leg-spin could well be the antidote. Lynn has struggled against spin bowling so far in the tournament and his usual frenetic hitting has not been seen in full glory so far. However, if he manages to get on top of DD’s frontline spinner, then the hoss might be in trouble.

#4 Liam Plunkett v Robin Uthappa

After South African star Kagiso Rabada pulled out of this year’s IPL, DD replaced him in the squad with English fast bowler Liam Plunkett but it was not till their previous game that he was included in the eleven. His ‘hit the deck’ bowling style, consistent pace and accuracy proved to be a revelation as he claimed 3 for 17 in 4 overs and helped DD in getting into a great position in the game. It is another matter that they would eventually lose the game. That being said, he will be a very important constituent of their bowling attack from now on and in tonight’s game against KKR, his duel with Robin Uthappa promises to be an engrossing one.

The right-handed batsman may not have got any fifties so far in this year’s IPL (48 being the highest) but he has been in excellent hitting form so far. Uthappa is striking at 142.10 but his average is only 27. Maybe, in this latter half of the league stage campaign, he is going to score some big runs and it will perhaps start in tonight’s game against DD. However, Plunkett is a bowler who is almost certainly going to be his biggest challenge.

#3 Prithvi Shaw v Shivam Mavi

The battle between India’s captain in the Under-19 World Cup and one its stars is going to be one of the most eagerly anticipated one in tonight’s game. Prithvi Shaw is predicted to be one of India’s future stars and the same goes for the tearaway fast bowler Shivam Mavi, which is why the duel between the two youngsters is such an exciting one. Mavi came into the side after Vinay Kumar’s woeful show in the first two games and although he is not quite the finished material yet, he has given the KKR attack an extra edge.

He has taken only two wickets so far and has recorded an economy rate of 9.30, which is better than the ones recorded by both Andre Russell (10.90) and Tom Curran (11.86). On the other hand, Prithvi Shaw played his first game KXIP and looked in good touch before being dismissed for 22 off 10. Now that Gautam Gambhir is almost certainly going to be out of the side, the top order is going to depend on him and hence, a clash with his Under-19 teammate is definitely going to be one for the ages.

#2 Glenn Maxwell v Kuldeep Yadav

The Australian all-rounder is amongst the most brutal power-hitters in limited over cricket and when DD made Glenn Maxwell their big money acquisition in this year’s auction, it was expected that he would give them the middle-order firepower that they sorely lacked. However, things have not turned out according to plan thus far and although he has recorded a strike rate of 166.07, the right-handed batsman not been able to post a substantial score yet.

That being said, it must be remembered that he got his highest score of 47 against KKR in the previous game and hit 3 fours and 4 sixes. He is an excellent hitter of spinners and therein lies the tantalizing prospect of an almighty battle against KKR’s Kuldeep Yadav. In the previous encounter, Maxwell hit him for two sixes but in the end, the left-arm leg-spinner got his wicket and that is why it promises to be such an interesting battle. Maxwell has recorded a strike rate of 151.4 in T20s against spin bowlers since 2015 and if he can play at that rate, then he could well break the back of the KKR attack.

#1 Rishabh Pant v Sunil Narine

With 227 runs in 6 games so far, DD’s wicketkeeper-batsman is their highest run-scorer so far in the tournament and with a strike rate of 170.67 to go along with it, he is a batsman who can take the game away from the opposition fairly quickly. In addition to that, Rishabh Pant is a brutal hitter against spinners and has recorded a strike rate 157.5 against spin bowlers since as far back as 2015.

However, tonight he will come up against arguably the greatest spin bowler in IPL history in the form of KKR’s star performer Sunil Narine. Will he go for it from the outset and try to throw him off his lengths? Or will he bide his time and deny him the wicket? However, for a batsman who has been successful against spin, it is unlikely that he will take a backward step against the Trinidadian and that is what makes it a match-defining battle. Whoever comes out on top will almost certainly give his team a great chance of victory in tonight’s game.