Confident Delhi Take on In-form Kolkata

New Delhi: Virender Sehwag's flamboyance will be put to test against Gautam Gambhir's gumption when leaders Delhi Daredevils take on second-placed Kolkata Knight Riders in a top-of-the-table clash in Indian Premier League on Monday.

As far as the points table is concerned, only a single point separates the two teams. While Delhi Daredevils have 16 points from 10 matches with eight wins, KKR aren't far behind with 15 points from 11 encounters with seven wins.

On paper, the Daredevils are slightly better side with a formidable batting line-up and a balanced bowling attack while KKR have relied a bit more on individual performances from skipper Gambhir and mystery off-spinner Sunil Narine.

The batting depth of the Daredevils can be gauged by the fact that although someone like Kevin Pietersen is back in England to join national team, the Delhi outfit have another match-winner in David Warner joining their ranks.

While the Daredevils come into the match after a four-day break which has helped the players recharge their batteries, KKR will be riding high after their inspiring seven-run win in the prestige match against the Sourav Ganguly-led-Pune Warriors on Saturday.

Both the sides are all but assured of a place in the knock-out stages, but a victory in the marquee clash will not only bolster the confidence but also help them consolidate their position at the top.

Having been involved in numerous match-winning partnership for their national, state as well as IPL teams, the two Delhi openers have done admirably well in leading their respective sides in this edition of the T20 event.

Both have led from the front making significant contribution with the bat. While Gambhir has scored 421 runs in 10 matches with five fifties, Sehwag is second in the list of run-scorers with 445 runs from equal number of games.

While Sehwag has been at his marauding best, Gambhir's knocks have been focus and concentration personified.

As far as the team composition is concerned, the Daredevils will certainly have Warner straightaway coming into the playing XI in place of Pietersen but there would certainly be some debate about the fourth foreigner's slot.

The KKR side's main worry has been the form of their international batsmen. While Gambhir has been in sparkling touch, same can't be said about T20 specialist Yusuf Pathan who has been one of the biggest disappointments of IPL 5.

Teams from

Delhi Daredevils: Virender Sehwag (captain), Naman Ojha (wk), Kevin Pietersen, Mahela Jayawardene, Ross Taylor, Y Venugopal Rao, Yogesh Nagar, Irfan Pathan, Roelof van der Merwe, Morne Morkel, Umesh Yadav, Shahbaz Nadeem, Andre Russell, Aaron Finch, Doug Bracewell, Ajit Agarkar, Varun Aaron, Aavishkar Salvi, Robin Bist, Sunny Gupta, Pawan Negi and Punit Bisht.

Kolkata Knight Riders: Gautam Gambhir (captain), Brendon McCullum (wk), Jacques Kallis, Manoj Tiwary, Yusuf Pathan, Debabrata Das, Laxmi Ratan Shukla, Rajat Bhatia, Sunil Narine, Brett Lee, Iqbal Abdulla, Chirag Jani, Iresh Saxena, Jaidev Unadkat, Manvinder Bisla, Pradeep Sangwan, Sanju Samson, Sarabjit Singh Ladda, Mohammad Shami Ahmed, Eoin Morgan, Marchant de Lange, Ryan ten Doeschate and Shakib Al Hasan.

Stats and trivia

• Yusuf Pathan has hit 77 sixes in his IPL career. However, only three of them have come this season.
• Both Delhi and India' Gambhir and Sehwag know that very well and would be ready to put in those extra yards to log full points on Monday.

Match facts
Monday May 7, 2012 (day/night)
Start time 20:00 local (14:30 GMT)