IPL 2015 1st T20: Kolkata Knight Riders Vs Mumbai Indians

Indian Premier League 2015: Kolkata Knight Riders Vs Mumbai Indians, 1st T20 at Kolkata, 08 Apr, 2015
Match Teams: Kolkata Knight Riders Vs Mumbai Indians
Match Venue: Played at Eden Gardens
Match scheduled to begin at 20:00 local time (14:30 GMT; 08:00 PM IST)
Toss: Kolkata Knight Riders, who chose to field first
Live Ball by ball updates
Full Scorecard
Mumbai Indians: 168/3(20 ov)
Kolkata Knight Riders: 170/3(18.3 ov)
Result: Kolkata Knight Riders won by 7 wickets
Recent Matches results
Kolkata Knight Riders: LW W W W W
Mumbai Indians: L W L L W
pitch report: By a opinion of a cricket specialists a Kolkata wicket can be support for a batting predominantly and a few support for bowlers on a floor.
Preview:Defending champions v former champions makes for good billing. Being the season opener entices its share of audience. A dash of chequered recent history and both Kolkata Knight Riders and Mumbai Indians have points to prove.
Sunil Narine, the Knight Riders' spinners boast the best average (20.86), economy rate (6.5) and strike-rate (19.2) in the IPL. A T20 captain's dream, they rip through the overs, leaving batsmen in a daze and the scoreboard stagnant. A "fresh pitch," according to Gambhir and evening rains in the lead-up to the opening match can limit the amount of purchase available. So how can Mumbai combat the spin strangle? That vast thinktank would look to Rohit Sharma to provide an answer. He is arguably their most versatile player and his ability to soak pressure and beat it was on show when he struck a century against Bangladesh in the World Cup quarter-final. He does it with greater frequency in IPL as he showed in the 2013 season when he took over captaincy and won Mumbai their only IPL title.
Match Stats:
Mumbai have won 10 out of 14 matches between the two sides so far. Although Knight Riders have come out top in their last two encounters.
Knight Riders have never held the purple cap, although they do have a player in the squad who had won it for a different team - Morne Morkel for Delhi Daredevils in 2012

New-look Daredevils land in deep end

Big picture
Chennai Super Kings and Delhi Daredevils are possibly IPL's two most contrasting teams. One from the south, the other from north. One with an enviable IPL pedigree, the other with one of the poorest tournament records. One a stable team with a stable leader, the other, constantly looking for their messiah. One in yellow, almost as confident in IPL as Australia are in their gold kit, the other, in blue, a bit lost like England. It's not difficult to see which team will be more nervous when the two meet in Chennai.

After finishing at the bottom of the points table for two consecutive seasons, Daredevils went on a head-turning shopping binge at the IPL auction. Record cash was splashed on one man in the hope that it would rejuvenate a side devoid of an icon. It will be, therefore, a huge challenge for the team, as well as for Yuvraj Singh, to make a statement in their first outing, specially with the absence of Angelo Mathews, who won't be available to play as the match is in Chennai. A win would be perfect but even a good fight would ease Daredevils' fans and management.

However, that is not going to come easy. Super Kings, who made it to the play-offs last year without playing a game in Chennai, are going to love being back; Chepauk is their fortress. It's hard to imagine that the first two times Daredevils played here, they comfortably beat Super Kings. Daredevils, however, lost their last three games in Chennai. Can 2015 bring in the change? Daredevils would certainly hope so.


New outfit, same pressures on Yuvraj Singh © PTI
Watch out for…
Brendon McCullum has the habit of setting the tone as an opener. Last year, he was the third-highest run-getter for Super Kings with 405 runs. Those came at a strike rate of 121.62. But if his World Cup form - 328 runs at a scorching rate of 188.50 - is an indicator, McCullum could be one of the most dangerous batsman for Super Kings in the first half of the tournament.

The same can't be said about Daredevils' opener. Quinton de Kock had a brilliant start to his international career but had a poor World Cup, managing 145 runs in eight outings. There were others in the South Africa batting line-up to cover for his lack of form, but in the Daredevils set-up, he will have to lead the way.

Stats and trivia
Delhi Daredevils managed five wins in 30 matches over the last two seasons, a massive dip in fortunes after finishing at top of the table in the 2012 edition
Zaheer Khan hasn't played competitive cricket for almost a year - Mumbai Indians' match against Kings XI on May 3, 2014 was his last outing

Quotes
"Irfan Pathan is not fit and he will not be considered. Also, Andrew Tye is carrying a slight injury. These two players will have to be watched from day to day and my understanding is that they will not be available for selection for the first game."
Chennai Super Kings' coach, Stephen Fleming

"We have Yuvraj Singh this time. Shreyas Iyer is an exciting cricketer. In all counts, we want to do well in this IPL and hopefully we will be the first team to make the top four and then go up in the ladder."

Mumbai brace for dynamic Knight Riders

Big Picture
Defending champions v former champions makes for good billing. Being the season opener entices its share of audience. A dash of chequered recent history and both Kolkata Knight Riders and Mumbai Indians have points to prove.

A 14-match winning streak for Gautam Gambhir's men screeched to a halt in the Champions League T20 final. Sunil Narine's absence - he was suspended for an illegal action - coloured an eight-wicket defeat to Chennai Super Kings. There had been doubts over his participation as late as last Sunday, but the BCCI sub-committee for suspect actions is satisfied with the changes. "It has never been our strategy to have a back-up for Sunil, because there can't be a back-up for him," Gambhir said.

Now though they don't have to worry about plan B. They have most of their A-team to call on, barring the injuries to James Neesham and Chris Lynn. Robin Uthappa was the top-scorer in the Ranji season. Morne Morkel was one of the bowlers of the tournament at the World Cup. Ryan ten Doeschate and Andre Russell have excellent pedigree as T20 finishers. They retain Shakib Al Hasan's services for the first couple of matches. Options aplenty.

Options that should worry Mumbai. Last we saw them, they became the first IPL team to fail the qualifying round into the Champions League T20. But there were extenuating circumstances: Rohit Sharma, their captain, was injured and left their team combination a mess. His presence at the helm, along with Ricky Ponting as coach, and the Lasith Malinga-led bowling raises expectation. Kieron Pollard will have his own spotlight, as well. Since his time away from the West Indies team, he's written two columns for Al Jazeera and played only twice as many games of competitive cricket. Not the best ratio for an active cricketer. So the biggest question Mumbai will face is if the various cogs fit together smoothly.

Form guide
Kolkata Knight Riders LWWWW
Mumbai Indians LWLLW

Watch out for…
Since the acquisition of Sunil Narine, the Knight Riders' spinners boast the best average (20.86), economy rate (6.5) and strike-rate (19.2) in the IPL. A T20 captain's dream, they rip through the overs, leaving batsmen in a daze and the scoreboard stagnant. A "fresh pitch," according to Gambhir and evening rains in the lead-up to the opening match can limit the amount of purchase available.

So how can Mumbai combat the spin strangle? That vast thinktank would look to Rohit Sharma to provide an answer. He is arguably their most versatile player and his ability to soak pressure and beat it was on show when he struck a century against Bangladesh in the World Cup quarter-final. He does it with greater frequency in IPL as he showed in the 2013 season when he took over captaincy and won Mumbai their only IPL title.

Stats and trivia
Mumbai have won 10 out of 14 matches between the two sides so far. Although Knight Riders have come out top in their last two encounters.
Knight Riders have never held the purple cap, although they do have a player in the squad who had won it for a different team - Morne Morkel for Delhi Daredevils in 2012

Quotes
"I have always maintained that even if he [Sunil Narine] bowls a straight ball, it is always going to be an advantage - that's the kind of aura and that's the kind of threat he has had on the opposition throughout the last three years"
Kolkata Knight Riders captain Gautam Gambhir on his primary match-winner

"We have had very good memories of Kolkata. We won the championship there. We understand the conditions there very well. Am sure the guys can exploit the conditions well."
Captain Rohit Sharma on Mumbai Indians starting their campaign in Kolkata