The Kolkata Knight Riders would be chasing their first few steps to the semi-final berth when they play the Delhi Daredevils at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata. The Delhi Daredevils are currently on 12 points and looking good to qualify for the semi-finals, but the Knight Riders have only four wins in their nine games and need to win at least three of the remaining five games to harbour hopes of getting into the knock-out stage.

Kolkata would have been worried about the way the opposition, Punjab, chased down a total of 200 in the previous game at the Eden Gardens. They barely broke into a sweat, thanks to the Mahela Jayawardene special and that would send shivers down the spine, especially after looking at the Delhi batting order.

In Dave Warner, Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Dinesh Karthik and Paul Collingwood, Delhi has a line-up that can never struggle for runs, and the Knight Riders will know this for a fact. They would also know that two of the aforementioned Delhi cricketers, Sehwag and Gambhir have not really ben amongst the runs and can easily get going; making life miserable in that case.

The last time these two teams met at the Feroz Shah Kotla, Delhi plundered the Kolkata attack. More so, like Warner made a mockery of the bowling by scoring a century in the game, and despite David Hussey's excellent catch at the boundary, it was only evident that the Kolkata side would never be able to come close to the target.

However, the advantage that the Kolkata side has is the form of two of their batsmen, which has suddenly soared high in the sky. For one, Sourav Ganguly has regained his touch that had made him one of the better openers of all times, whereas Gayle, who was looking a tad tentative in the previous games also wound up and scored a 42-ball 88 in the Punjab match.

In fact, Gayle was so menacing, that he hit Ravi Bopara for four sixes in a row and almost took the game away from the Punjab team.

What the Knight Riders need to look at is their bowling attack, which was left shorn of Charl Langeveldt due to the inclusion of Shane Bond. But to me, Langeveldt is a much better choice in the death overs, where the game can go away from the side's hands. Kolkata will also look at having another big hitter in the middle order, where Hussey has struggled to get the runs, and one senses that Brendon McCullum could be called up to replace Hussey.

Tag :- Delhi Daredevils   Kolkata Knight Riders   Mahela Jayawardene   Paul Collingwood   Shane Bond   Sourav Ganguly