Match facts
Gujarat Lions v Kolkata Knight Riders
Rajkot, April 7, 2017
Start time 2000 local (1430 GMT)
Head to head
Overall: Gujarat Lions have won both matches between the teams so far.
In the news
Neither team will be able to field their best XI. Gujarat Lions allrounder Dwayne Bravo suffered a hamstring injury in January and is recovering from surgery. He is likely to miss the first two games. Kolkata Knight Riders fast bowler Umesh Yadav has hip and lower-back issues and will be fit to play in two weeks.
Knight Riders will also have to make do without allrounder Andre Russell, who is serving a one-year ban for a doping code-violation. His replacement though - Colin de Grandhomme - has a T20 strike-rate of 171 after 91 innings. Shakib Al Hasan will join the team after Bangladesh's tour of Sri Lanka.
Lions have lost a similarly key player. Their local boy Ravindra Jadeja is suffering from "issues" to his spinning finger after starring in a 13-Test long home season. Lions do have a surplus of left-arm spinners - Shadab Jakati and Shivil Kaushik - and are expecting Jadeja back in two weeks.
The likely XIs
Gujarat Lions: 1 Brendon McCullum, 2 Dwayne Smith, 3 Suresh Raina (capt), 4 Aaron Finch, 5 Dinesh Karthik (wk), 6 James Faulkner, 7 Ishan Kishan, 8 Praveen Kumar, 9 Shadab Jakati, 10 Dhawal Kulkarni, 11 Shivil Kaushik
Kolkata Knight Riders: 1 Gautam Gambhir (capt), 2 Robin Uthappa (wk), 3 Manish Pandey, 4 Chris Lynn/Colin de Grandhomme, 5 Chris Woakes, 6 Yusuf Pathan, 7 Suryakumar Yadav, 8 Kuldeep Yadav, 9 Sunil Narine, 10 Ankit Rajpoot, 11 Trent Boult
Stats that matter
The average score batting first in IPL games in Rajkot is 157. So it is perhaps no surprise that the team chasing has won four out of five IPL matches at the venue.
The only time a total has been successfully defended was in a 4pm game, when spinners average 23.40 in the first innings and 23.16 in the second innings. In a night game, spinners average 19.88 in the first innings and a whopping 48.50 in the second, which suggests dew could be a factor.
This match features two of the four best opening partnerships in the IPL. Gautam Gambhir and Robin Uthappa have scored 1478 runs in 39 innings at an average of 37.89. Brendon McCullum and Dwayne Smith have made 1257 runs in 34 innings at an average of 36.97.
Gambhir averages 29.58 against pace bowling with 85 dismissals - no other batsman has been dismissed as many times by pace in the IPL. But considering he has played nine seasons and bats at the top of the order, against the new ball, that is understandable. The next man on that list is Virat Kohli with 82. Gambhir is excellent against spin though, as an average of 41.22 indicates.
Lions' dependency on their top order is well established by how they were the fastest scoring team in the Powerplay in 2016 (8.29), and the slowest scoring team in the last five overs (8.98). Knight Riders corresponding figures were 7.96 and 9.78.
Lions conceded the most runs in the final five overs in 2016 - 777 off 413 balls at a run-rate of 11.28. Knight Riders are marginally better with 10.37. Over the nine seasons, Knight Riders give up 9.28 per over in the final five, the best among all the active teams in the IPL.
Suresh Raina has never fallen to Sunil Narine in the IPL. He has scored 65 runs off 43 balls at a strike-rate of 151.
Rajkot was the most unfriendly venue for spinners in the Powerplay in IPL 2016. They have an economy rate of 9.19 there - the highest among all grounds that hosted more than one match. After the first six overs though, the spinners concede only 6.75 an over, and have picked up 21 wickets.
