IPL 2012 Live: Delhi Daredevils v Kolkata Knight Riders Preview

Monday will see two of the top teams take on each other as Delhi Daredevils host Kolkata Knight Riders in the fifth season of the Indian Premier League. Both teams are on a four-match winning streak having enjoyed a successful fortnight or so.

The team that Delhi Daredevils were in the first two seasons, signs of those teams are back with a dominating show so far. There seems little room to have any doubts over their ability to qualify for the semi-finals, having already secured 16 points with six matches still to play.

They have been ruthless in many a matches, and same was the story against Rajasthan Royals where they won by six wickets with nearly five overs remaining. The captain Virender Sehwag has been in supreme form but Kevin Pietersen will no longer be available to them having flown back to England.

In his absence, David Warner is likely to come in while [[Ross Taylor is expected to have an expanded role. The bowlers will continue with their original plan that sees Morne Morkel leading the tournament’s wicket-takers.

Kolkata Knight Riders are second on the table, behind their opponents for Monday. Kolkata have 15 points from 11 matches and momentum is with them too heading into the match. They overcame a Sourav Ganguly-led Pune Warriors in front of home crowd on Saturday.

While [[Gautam Gambhir] and Brendon McCullum have done well with the bat, the middle-order has looked fragile and will be an area of concern for the Knight Riders after they managed to score only 52 runs from the last ten overs.

Yusuf Pathan has been the biggest disappointment having scored only 59 runs in eight innings so far. The bowlers have stuck to their task reasonably well with Sunil Narine proving to be more than a handful for the opposition.

Feroz Shah Kotla ground in Delhi will host the match starting at 8.00pm. Delhi came out victors in their earlier meeting against Kolkata Knight Riders this season.