IPL 2017: Gujarat Lions vs Kolkata Knight Riders, 5 factors of winning

#2 With the ball

Praveen Kumar will look to use all his guile to try and make inroads

GL have to come up with a way to counterattack their lack of depth in bowling. They have a formidable batting line-up but lack experience when it comes to the bowling department. Praveen Kumar and Dhawal Kulkarni will have to shoulder major responsibilities with the new ball.

James Faulkner can be lethal with his slower deliveries in the death but with the surface having a reputation of assisting the spinners, Shivil Kaushik and Shadab Jakati run will be crucial. The absence of Dwayne Bravo will hurt GL as they don’t have enough options with the ball, which can be a benefiting factor for KKR.

KKR have an aura of fine bowlers, unlike GL. The likes of Trent Boult, Sunil Narine, Kuldeep Yadav, Piyush Chawla, Ankit Rajput and Chris Woakes render a bowling-up that should be a joy to behold.

Boult can get the new ball to swing along with Woakes/Rajput at the other end. Kuldeep, Narine and Chawla, meanwhile will certainly spin a series of webs around the GL batsmen, which will be difficult to breakthrough. The competition is undoubtedly between KKR’s fine bowling against GL’s muscular batting.