Kolkata Knight Riders vs Gujarat Titans: Knight Riders to look for a turnaround   

Kolkata Knight Riders sit in seventh place, whereas Gujarat Titans are in the second spot.

Kolkata Knight Riders began their tournament on a positive note but have now lost three games on a trot. They have lost four out of the seven matches played and will look to make a comeback in a clash against Gujarat. Umesh Yadav and Pat Cummins, though, get a good start in Powerplay but tends to leak runs in death overs bowling. And that is the reason that despite being in control of the game, they tend to lose towards the end. Another concern for the team lies in their top-order performance. They need to fetch good runs to give the team a stable start. Aaron Finch’s form in the previous match was a positive takeaway for the team. We might see Sunil Narine again at top order while Venkatesh Iyer is getting somewhere in the middle. Overall, the team needs to address a lot of issues in their playing XI to have control over their rankings in the tournament. 

On the other hand, Gujarat Titans have a stronghold on the contest till now. They have lost just one match out of the six played. They are in quite a comfortable position on the points table. Hardik Pandya has been charismatic with his bowling, batting, fielding and captaincy roles. They are the only team that looks to have a solid bowling line-up apart from Rajasthan Royals. They have a significant issue in the form of Vijay Shankar at number three. If that issue gets resolved, their batting line-up will also look stable.

Pitch Report

In the last clash that happened at Dr DY Patil Sports Academy, 12 of the 14 wickets were struck by pacers. Batters might struggle initially, whereas bowlers will likely be enjoying the pitch. 

Probable Playing XI

Gujarat Titans: Shubman Gill, Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Hardik Pandya (c), David Miller, Abhinav Manohar, Rahul Tewatia, Rashid Khan, Mohammad Shami, Lockie Ferguson, Alzarri Joseph, Yash Dayal

Kolkata Knight Riders: Venkatesh Iyer, Aaron Finch, Shreyas Iyer (c), Sunil Narine, Nitish Rana, Sheldon Jackson (wk), Andre Russell, Pat Cummins, Shivam Mavi, Umesh Yadav, Varun Chakravarthy

Stats to keep an eye on

• David Miller (99), Nitish Rana (98), and Shreyas Iyer (94) are all nearing the landmark of 100 sixes in the IPL.
• Rashid Khan is one strike shy of becoming the 17th bowler to reach the 100-wicket mark in the IPL.

It will be interesting to see if Kolkata can get back to winning by breaking the winning streak of Gujarat Titans. It will be an enthralling contest to witness.