Find Me A 100 Winner / Ed Hawkins / 09 May 2009 /

With Chris Gayle over in England and daily rumours of unrest in the camp the Kolkata Knight Riders look to have it all to do as they meet the dangerous Delhi Daredevils, writes Ed Hawkins.

Team news

Kolkata, with only one win to their name, have the opportunity to shuffle their pack after Chris Gayle's departure. His overseas spot could go to David Hussey, who has joined up after completing his international commitments. Kolkata may also be wise to give back the gloves to Brendon McCullum instead of Morne van Wyk to free up a space for the criminally underused Ajantha Mendis.

Delhi could still be without opener Virender Sehwag because of a hand injury. Not that they are missing him. They went top after cruising to a win over Mumbai last time.

Conditions

The Wanderers in Jo'burg has not quite lived up to its reputation as a batsman's paradise in IPL2. Admittedly there have been only two games staged there but neither busted 310 match runs line with totals coming in at 308 and 299. No rain is forecast.

Match odds

With one win from eight, Kolkata unsurprisingly are outsiders. They are [2.14] and given the almost-daily stories of player unrest in the Indian press, they should probably be bigger. Delhi are [1.57] and have lost only twice in the tournament. When the sides met last week, the Daredevils inflicted a crushing defeat by nine wickets. If there is hope for Kolkata it comes in the form of the fact that one of Delhi's defeats came at The Wanderers as they failed to chase down a target set by Chennai Super Kings. It is clear that if Kolkata are to spring a surprise McCullum, Hussey or Brad Hodge must play a huge innings.

Top batsman

Gautam Gambhir deserves some support here. He top scored against Kolkata with a brilliant 71 off 57 balls and after a slow start, he finally appears to be coming to terms with South African pitches. His opening partner, David Warner, hit 51 from 40 balls against Chennai at the venue but it was Dinesh Karthik who took honours in that game with 52 from 31 balls. Van Wyk top scored against Delhi in the previous meeting but it is Hodge who has been Kolkata's most reliable batsman, outscoring his teammates three times.

Featured market

McCullum has scored only 65 runs at an average of 10 and there could be some value in laying him to score 25.

'.$sign_up['title'].'

'; } } ?>

:

:

:

?

: