Daijiworld Media Network

Raipur, May 1: Welcome one and all to the match between Delhi and Kolkata from Raipur. Delhi won their first match at this venue against Pune and they will look to continue more of the same today against a Kolkata side that have struggled for consistency. A win for either team will keep them afloat in this competiton.

Kolkata have won the toss and elected to bat.

Gambhir: 'In the last game, I mentioned that we do not want to be in a situation where every game is a crunch game. We have a side that can play well on any wicket. This is one of the best grounds in the country. We want to put some runs on the board. Lee replaces Brendon McCullum, Narwal replaces Shami Ahmed.'

Teams:

Delhi (Playing XI): Mahela Jayawardene(c), Virender Sehwag, Unmukt Chand, David Warner, Ben Rohrer, Kedar Jadhav(w), Irfan Pathan, Shahbaz Nadeem, Morne Morkel, Ashish Nehra, Umesh Yadav

Kolkata (Playing XI): Manvinder Bisla(w), Gautam Gambhir(c), Jacques Kallis, Eoin Morgan, Yusuf Pathan, Debabrata Das, Rajat Bhatia, Sunil Narine, Sumit Narwal, Brett Lee, Lakshmipathy Balaji

Mahela Jayawardene: 'It was a very good win in the previous game. We have to push the momentum forward. Pune cracked under pressure and we bowled well under those circumstances. It is a pretty hard wicket. We have to restrict them to under 150. No changes in our team.' 
 

Match Preview

Few would have predicted that defending champions Kolkata and star-filled Delhi, who have been one of the more consistent teams in the history of T20-League, would languish at the bottom of the points table. While Delhi have had a slew of issues ranging from team combination to non-performance of their stars, Kolkata have messed up in a few games after setting up to win it. The match also holds significance as it pits India, ONGC and Delhi team-mates/friends/opening partners Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir against each other. Hence it comes as a bit of dampener that the match is not held at Delhi, but at the newest venue in the tournament, Raipur.

Delhi

It has come as a bewilderment to the fans that a line-up consisting of Virender Sehwag, Mahela Jayawardene, David Warner and Indian players like Irfan Pathan and Umesh Yadav have won only 2 out of their 9 games. The problem has been simple to spot: The top order hasn't fired and the bowlers have been lacklustre. Irfan Pathan, who is currently one of the million dollar babies is surely one of the major disappointments, while Yadav, returning from injury, has been good in patches. The silver lining is that David Warner has returned to form after a wretched series batting for Australia and has shown some hunger, at least in the press meets.

Team News: Bharat Chipli has been called in as a replacement for Venugopal Rao. The latter injured himself in the only game he played this year.

In form player: As mentioned earlier David Warner is the in form player. Many are of the opinion that Warner dropping down to number 4 is a mistake, but the Australian himself has gone on record to say that he enjoys batting in that slot.

Looking forward to: Virender Sehwag. He dazzled against Mumbai where his 95* took his side to a 9 wicket win. He has looked in decent touch, hitting those 20s and 30s, but the Raipur crowd will expect a big one from the Nawab of Najafgarh. And it's due as well.

Last 3 matches: 1) Won by 15 runs against Pune 2) Lost to Punjab by 5 wickets 3) Won against Mumbai by 9 wickets.

Kolkata

Things have come to a crunch situation for the visitors. With just three wins and six losses, Kolkata, the defending champions are on the verge of crashing out of the tournament at a very early stage. The batting has been very shaky with Gautam Gambhir and Jacques Kallis failing to replicate last season's success. Eoin Morgan, given a consistent run this season has been the lone ranger in the batting order, but he has been asked to do too much at times. With Brett Lee being confined the comforts of the dug-out, the bowling has largely revolved around Sunil Narine and Sachithra Senanayake. The two mystery spinners have more then held their own but will need more support from the batsmen.

Team News: The political situation in Chennai forced Kolkata to leave out Senanayake from the XI. Brendon McCullum failed in his 1st match, but with the situation turning out to be desperate, might get another opportunity to display his wares.

In form player: Manvinder Bisla had a wretched start to the tournament and was even dropped for a few games. He has turned out to be a new leaf ever since his latest comeback as his back to back half centuries suggest.

Looking forward to: Gautam Gambhir, Virender Sehwag's erstwhile batting partner has tailed off a bit after a strong start to the season. With the hopes of his team pinned heavily on the kind of starts that they get from their skipper, Gambhir will hope to shed his lean form and get his team back to winning ways.

Last 3 matches: 1) Lost by 5 wickets against Mumbai 2) Won by 6 wickets against Punjab 3) Lost by 14 runs against Chennai.

Quotes:

It's a matter of one over or a wicket. Myself and the entire team management has a lot of faith and trust in him - Gambhir has a lot of faith in the struggling all-rounder, Yusuf Pathan.

Throughout my career I have been a big believer whatever the circumstances may be - Irfan Pathan believes that Delhi can still qualify for the playoffs.