It's all hunky dory for the Kolkata Knight Riders, but the Delhi Daredevils will be under pressure to get their playing XI right, something they haven't done too often in IPL 2017, when the two teams meet at the Eden Gardens on Friday.
While KKR sit pretty at the top of the IPL 2017 points table, the Delhi Daredevils are at the opposite end, although that is also because they have played only six games, when every other team have played seven or more – RCB, for instance have played nine matches.
Having games in hand will mean nothing, though, if the Delhi Daredevils continue to flatter to deceive like they have done in their recent games.
Inexperience has been their biggest problem in the batting lineup, and at least that has been solved a little by signing Marlon Samuels, who was named as the official replacement for Quinton de Kock on Thursday.
Samuels, though, won't feature in this match, with the West Indian only expected to join up with the squad over the weekend.
The Eden Gardens pitch has favoured the fast bowlers quite a bit this season, so that could mean that the Delhi Daredevils will stick to the pacers that played against the Mumbai Indians, a match which they lost, despite restricting MI to just 142 at the Wankhede.
Pat Cummins and Kagiso Rabada were both picked with Sam Billings sitting out, but what that ploy will also mean is leaving the batting lineup exposed, in terms of experience and temperament.
And as DD found out against the Mumbai Indians, that is dangerous.
There is no more dangerous team in IPL at the moment than the Kolkata Knight Riders. They can hit you hard with the ball and smash you to bits with the bat.
Gautam Gambhir's men have been impressive, and then some, this season, and after resting Nathan Coulter-Nile for their comprehensive win over the Rising Pune Supergiant, the Australian is expected to return to the playing XI.
Coulter-Nile has been outstanding since coming in for Trent Boult, and the fast bowler should return at the expense of Darren Bravo.
That would also mean Suryakumar Yadav returning to the KKR lineup, with Piyush Chawla most likely the bowler to sit out.
Colin de Grandhomme has done well enough since he has come in and with the pitch likely to favour the pacer, Shakib Al Hasan is expected to miss out again.
Expected playing XI:
KKR: Sunil Narine, Gautam Gambhir (C), Robin Uthappa, Manish Pandey, Yusuf Pathan, Suryakumar Yadav, Colin de Grandhomme, Chris Woakes, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Kuldeep Yadav, Umesh Yadav.
Delhi Daredevils: Aditya Tare, Sanju Samson, Karun Nair, Rishabh Pant, Shreyas Iyer, Corey Anderson, Chris Morris, Kagiso Rabada, Pat Cummins, Zaheer Khan (C), Amit Mishra.
