DD vs KKR Match Prediction: Who will win the match between Delhi Daredevils and Kolkata Knight Riders, IPL 2016, Match 26

The Knight riders meet the Delhi Daredevils at Kotla in Match no. 26 of the Vivo IPL, 2016. This promises to be a well-fought encounter where the Daredevils would want to avenge their loss to the Knight Riders earlier in this season. Delhi has come a long way ever since that debacle at the Eden and they will pose a huge challenge for the Knight Riders this time around. KKR will be hurting from their defeat at Wankhede where they were annihilated by the belligerent Pollard and forced to surrender to Rohit's brilliance. The bowlers for the KKR had a tough time battling the dew at Mumbai and Gambhir would want to call it right when the coin goes up this time around. We’ve done the match prediction for IPL 2016 Match 26 between Delhi vs Kolkata.

Delhi after losing the heartstopping thriller against Gujarat would like to regroup and get back to their winning ways at the Kotla. However, a look at the head to head stats shows that the Knightriders have had the better of the Daredevils on 10 occasions out of the 17 previous encounters. The Knight riders could pull this one off if they get the team selection right and they are my favourites for this clash.

If Delhi Daredevils bat first

Predicted: 160 and above

We might see a little shuffle in the batting order of Delhi. Rishabh Pant might open the batting instead of Sanju Samson. Samson will come at his customary no. 3 position. But the player, the Daredevils would love to see firing is Quinton de Kock. De Kock had a couple of failures after that brilliant hundred against RCB and he would want to start cautiously before tearing into the opposition.

Fancy De Kock coming good this time around at the Kotla. Sanju Samson and Karun Nair will play around their middle order mainstay JP Duminy. Expect the hero of the last game, Chris Morris, landing some handy blows to propel the Delhi score to 160 plus. We might even see Morris batting up the order depending on the number of overs remaining in the innings.

The bowling was a little inconsistent from Delhi in the last game. They were taken to the cleaners in the first ten overs but came back with a bang in the back ten. They will once again look at their skipper Zaheer Khan and Mohammed Shami to give them the early breakthroughs. In fact, it should be a great contest between Gambhir and Zak at the top.

Also with Morris in the mix, he would be expected to hit the blockhole in the death. It would be tough for the bowlers to contain the KKR batters and the spinners for DD have to rise to the occasion. Once again the onus will be on Imran Tahir and Amit Mishra to provide the crucial breakthroughs in the middle. Having said that, they would need to bring their A-game to the table if they want to stop KKR from chasing their score down.

If Kolkata Knight Riders bat first

Predicted score: 175 and above

Gambhir has to be careful against the likes of Zaheer and Shami. Also, Morris might be asked to pepper Gambhir with some short stuff as he has looked vulnerable in that area. If Uthappa bats for 10 overs, expect Kolkata to post a huge score. There is also a lot of firepower in the middle for Kolkata with the likes of Shakib Al Hasan, Suryakumar Yadav, Andre Russell and Yusuf Pathan. Tactics will be important here for the KKR and they should look at sending Suryakumar Yadav at no. 3 ahead of Shakib. Shakib could be the floater and should be asked to bat according to situations.

Morne Morkel should be brought in for this game and we might see Chris Lynn making way for him. Morkel provides that extra impetus at the top and he along with Yadav would look to pick some early wickets inside the powerplay. The battle of the compatriots, Morkel vs De Kock, should be a fantastic duel to watch out for.

Andre Russel should bowl back of a length to the young Indian youngsters of the Delhi Daredevils. Sunil Narine vs Chris Morris should be another wonderful contest and it will be interesting to see whether Morris could get stuck into Narine here. Piyush Chawla should play in this game and he would like to keep it tight in the middle with the canny Shakib giving him company. Expect KKR to defend anything in excess of 175 at the Kotla.

Probable winners: Kolkata Knight Riders