In the 26th match of Vivo Indian Premier League (IPL 2018), Kolkata Knight Riders won the toss and invited hosts Delhi Daredevils to bat first at Ferozshah Kotla ground in New Delhi. Surprisingly, former captain of DD Gautam Gambhir is not playing in today's match. Delhi is placed at the bottom of the VIVO IPL Points table.
Kolkata Knight Riders Playing XI for today's match: Chris Lynn, Sunil Narine, Robin Uthappa, Nitish Rana, Dinesh Karthik(w/c), Andre Russell, Shubman Gill, Mitchell Johnson, Piyush Chawla, Shivam Mavi, Kuldeep Yadav. Change: Mitchell Johnson replaces Tom Curran
Delhi Daredevils Playing XI for today's match: Prithvi Shaw, Colin Munro, Glenn Maxwell, Rishabh Pant(w), Shreyas Iyer(c), Vijay Shankar, Rahul Tewatia, Liam Plunkett, Amit Mishra, Avesh Khan, Trent Boult. Change: Gautam Gambhir and Dan Christian not playing. Vijay Shankar and Colin Munro are in.
Currently languishing at the bottom of the Vivo IPL points table, Delhi Daredevils will hope for a new lease of life under the new skipper Shreyas Iyer even as KKR try to chase their fourth win in seven games at the Ferozshah Kotla. After losing five of their six outings, Delhi have a tough task of winning seven of the remaining eight matches to be in contention for the play-offs. And the onus is on the 23-year-old Iyer and the team management to formulate the correct combination for a turnaround. With Gambhir battling poor form and the rest of the batting order not clicking in unison, Delhi have so far been over-reliant on young Rishabh Pant. Shreyas Iyer, meanwhile single-handedly propelled in their previous match against Kings XI Punjab. They fell short by only four runs. Delhi Daredevils have not been particularly lucky on the fitness front, either, with Jason Roy (side strain) and Chris Morris (back problem) still recovering. The only game Daredevils have won so far was shaped by Roy's unbeaten whirlwind knock of 91 on debut against Mumbai Indians. Another major worry for the Daredevils is the lack of form of Australian power-hitter Glenn Maxwell, who has scores of 17, 13, 47, 4 and 12 so far. On the other hand, Kolkata Knight Riders are also struggling a bit with their bowling. But what has worked reasonably well for them is their batting. Their batsmen have been contributing consistently, taking the side past the 200-mark twice. But bowlers their have struggled to defend even big totals. KKR have won three matches and lost as many to sit fourth in the Vivo IPL points table. It's a spin-heavy attack for KKR with Sunil Narine, Kuldeep Yadav and Piyush Chawla doing the bulk of the job. The slow conditions at Ferozshah Kotla are likely to suit this combination, while young Shivam Mavi and England's Tom Curran would be spearheading the pace attack. Australian quick Mitchell Johnson has got only two games so far. Andre Russell has done a fine all-round job for them and the West Indian continues to be a vital cog for KKR. His brute power would be of immense use on the Kotla pitch, where the ball might not come on to bat easily. The conditions will be testing for KKR batsmen. The last time Delhi Daredevils and Kolkata Knight Riders clashed, it was the latter that dominated by putting 200 runs on the board to win by a comprehensive 71-run margin. Here are a few things to know before the Kolkata Knight Riders vs Delhi Daredevils (KKR vs DD) match to be played at Ferozshah Kotla stadium in New Delhi, the two teams' players who could prove handy, and who has said what before the clash: Shreyas Iyer replaces Gautam Gambhir as Delhi Daredevils captain: Delhi Daredevils captain Gautam Gambhir stepped down on Wednesday after the capital franchise lost five of their six matches in the Indian Premier League (IPL) season so far. Top-order batsman Shreyas Iyer, 23, will take over the captaincy role of the team, which is at the bottom of the table. Their only win came against Mumbai Indians -- who are also struggling with the same number of points. "It was my decision.I haven't contributed enough to the team. I had to take the responsibility being the leader of the ship for where we are at the points table. I feel it was the right time for me to step down. There was no pressure from the franchise," Gambhir said at a press conference. "I was too desperate to turn things around. When you are so eager, it can backfire. That could be the reason, and may be I couldn't handle the pressure which came with the position I was given. Coming back to Delhi (from Kolkata Kngight Riders) was an emotional decision, my emotional homecoming and sometimes emotions get the better of you and then you are so eager to change th things around -- this was the only thing in my mind." Having relinquished captaincy of Delhi Daredevils, Gautam Gambhir has decided to forego his entire Rs 2.8 crore salary while taking responsibility for the team's disastrous run in the ongoing Indian Premier League. It is possibly the first time that an IPL captain has decided to forego his salary because of non performance. Gambhir resigned from captaincy after Delhi Daredevils lost five of their six games with the skipper managing a meagre 85 runs opening the batting, including a half century in the first game. "Gautam has decided that he won't take any salary from the franchise for the season. He will play remaining part of IPL for the Delhi Daredevils for free," a source privy to the development told PTI on the condition of anonymity. Need one win will set the ball rolling, says Liam Plunkett: Down but not out. That's what pacer Liam Plunkett tried to convey while summing up the mood in the Delhi Daredevils camp after suffering yet another loss in the Indian Premier League. Delhi Daredevils came agonisingly close to breaking their run of reverses, only to lose by four runs to Kings XI Punjab at the Ferozeshah Kotla last night. "It was really disappointing to lose such a close game. I think we should have won this match. It is really frustrating for all of us," Plunkett said at the post-match press conference. "It was a match we could have won... We are really disappointed." Tough to concentrate when facing issues, says DD bowling coach on Shami: Delhi Daredevils bowling coach James Hopes hinted that pacer Mohammad Shami's personal problems in recent times may have affected his game. The 28-year-old fast bowler has had a rough time off the field with his wife Hasin Jahan filing a police complaint against him for domestic violence and accusing him of match-fixing. He also sustained a head injury after his vehicle collided with a truck when he was on way to Delhi from Dehradun following a short training stint before the IPL. "I think he has got some personal stuff going on. And it's tough to concentrate on the job sometimes. Players try to use cricket as a release. Everywhere you have to sort out your off-field stuffs before you start performing on the field. He is in the process of doing that and it obviously is going to take some time," Hopes said of Shami. Gambhir's captaincy was no issue, DD batsmen failed, says Sanjay Manjrekar: Gautam Gambhir had to step down from the helm after the failure of Delhi Daredevils' batting unit in this Indian Premier League season, but his leadership was not an issue, feels former India batsman Sanjay Manjrekar. Daredevils, yet to win an IPL crown, are in the last spot in the points table after losing five of the six games they figured in, their sole win coming against defending champions Mumbai Indians. "I don't think Gambhir's leadership was a problem, it was just about the batsmen not getting runs, notable failure like (Glenn) Maxwell hurting them. Gambhir, the batsman, thereby had to get runs because the others were failing around him. Gambhir was picked more for his captaincy than his batting, but because the batting group was not clicking, Gambhir the batsman came under scrutiny," Manjrekar said. How Delhi Daredevils and Kolkata Knight Riders have fared against each other head-to-head in the IPL matches played so far Overall Matches played: 20 Delhi Daredevils won: 7 Kolkata Knight Riders won: 13 The head-to-head between the Delhi Daredevils and Kolkata Knight Riders stood at 6-6 after the first meeting between the two teams in the 2014 season. Since then, though, KKR have dominated these contests, winning 7 of the next 8 matches. Some trivia ahead of today’s match between Delhi Daredevils and Kolkata Knight Riders