Kings XI Punjab have an upper-hand on their north Indian rivals, winning three of the four encounters against the Delhi Daredevils. Delhi, however, have been a more consistent team in the league. Both teams, led by their new captains, will aim to start their IPL-3 journey with a win at Mohali.
Delhi Daredevils
In Virender Sehwag and Tillakaratne Dilshan, they boast of the most explosive opening pair going around. But the bowlers’ worries hardly end there, as the men to follow are AB de Villiers, Gautam Gambhir and Dinesh Karthik.
De Villiers will take the confidence of his two recent ODI hundreds into the tournament, while with the responsibility of leading the side on his shoulders, expect Gambhir to lead from the front and anchor the top-order. Twenty20 specialist David Warner will probably have to wait for his turn in the star-studded line-up.
While the presence of useful allrounders like Rajat Bhatia and Moises Henriques will delight the skipper, he also has a potent pace battery comprising Wayne Parnell and Ashish Nehra. Parnell’s recent exploits with the bat against India will add to his accurate bowling and Nehra’s ability to bowl the slower-ones at the death will augur well for Delhi.
In the absence of Daniel Vettori, who’s performing his national duties, Amit Mishra is likely to take charge of the spin department.
Kings XI Punjab
Kumar Sangakkara will be desperate to make amends to his team’s ordinary last season and he has the firepower too with a good balance of international and domestic talent.
While Shaun Marsh has already proved his worth with his scintillating performance in the first season, this time he will be accompanied by prodigious opening batsman from the Caribbean, Adrain Barath. With Yuvraj Singh and Sangakkara to follow, their batting line-up has both substance and depth.
With Brett Lee out of the tournament for at least 10 days as he hasn't recovered sufficiently from his injury, the skipper may have to settle for Vikramjeet Malik. New recruit Mohammad Kaif might be asked to perform the role of a consolidator in the middle order ahead of Mahela Jayawardene. Kaif’s presence will further boost the side’s fielding standards, which are already high with the likes of Marsh, Yuvraj and Barath.
Irfan Pathan and Piyush Chawla’s hard-hitting prowess will come in handy in the lower-order and Sreesanth will be itching to swing that ball hard after being away from cricket for some time.
So, get ready for an enthralling contest between the Kings of Punjab and the Daredevils of Delhi.
Teams (Probable XI):
Delhi Daredevils: Virender Sehwag, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Gautam Gambhir (capt), AB de Villiers, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Rajat Bhatia, Moises Henriques, Amit Mishra, Ashish Nehra, Wayne Parnell, Avishkar Salvi
Kings XI Punjab: Shaun Marsh, Adrain Barath, Karan Goel, Yuvraj Singh, Tanmay Srivastava, Kumar Sangakkara (capt-wk), Mohammad Kaif/ Mahela Jayawardene, Irfan Pathan, Piyush Chawla, S Sreesanth, Brett Lee/Vikramjeet Malik
Posted in
