IPL 2017: Gujarat Lions (GL) Playing 11 against Kolkata Knight Riders

Gujarat Lions (GL) were last season’s dark horses. Yes, they got the better players from Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals when the two teams were suspended for two years from the IPL ahead of the tournament’s ninth edition.

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.

In their last season as an in IPL franchise, the Lions have yet again captured unknown players to fill in the gaps around their bigger stars. Yet, Suresh Raina is a pale shadow of his former self, Dwayne Bravo has retired from international cricket, and Brendon McCullum is also an ex-NZ player. Their biggest star, Ravindra Jadeja, is out with injury, and Dwayne Bravo is also set to miss the first leg of the tournament. In such a scenario, it’ll be up to the younger lot to step up and face the challenge. 

Gujarat will be without two of their key players—Ravindra Jadeja and Dwayne Bravo—for the home clash against KKR, and are no doubt weakened as a result.

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.

Now, here’s the playing XI I think GL will field against KKR:

1.) Suresh Raina (Capt)*                                                                                       1. )Gautam Gambhir (capt)*

 2.) Brendon McCullum                                                                                         2. )Robin Uthappa

3.) Dwayne Smith                                                                                                     3.)  Manish Pandey  

 4.) Aaron Finch                                                                                                         4.)  Chris Lynn

5.) Dinesh Karthik                                                                                                    5.) Chris Woakes

6.) Akshdeep Nath                                                                                                    6.) Yusuf Pathan

7.) James Faulkner                                                                                                   7.) Suryakumar Yadav

8.) Praveen Kumar                                                                                                  8.) Kuldeep Yadav

9.) Dhawal Kulkarni                                                                                               9.) Sunil Narine

10.) Basil Thampi                                                                                                    10.) Ankit Rajpoot

11.) Shadab Jakati                                                                                                   11.) Trent Boult