Pune Warriors look much stronger

Expected Batting Lineup

01-Robin Utthapa

02-Manish Pandey

03-Marlon Samuels

04-Yuvraj Singh

05-Ross Taylor

06-Angelo Mathews

07-Abhishek Nayar

08-Wayne Parnell

09-Rahul Sharma

10-Bhuvanesh Kumar

11-Ashok Dinda

Batting looks really explosive, but a more consistent opening pair would have helped. T.S.Suman could get a look in, in case they dont trust Pandey.

A much more improved Bhuvanesh(with test experience),Dinda,Parnell,Mathews makes a combo pace attack. This is well complimented by a good variation of spins options from Rahul, Yuvraj and Samuels.

They might prefer Mendis over Parnell on spinning tracks. Kane Richardson is a good backup for Parnell.

But Mathews as a captain might be a load to the team. He was not going to be a regular member of the team. His presence comes at the cost of Steve Smith.

Samuels,Mathews,Ross Taylor,Yuvraj,Utthapa,Bhuvanesh,Rahul would fit into the team anyday. Dinda,Pandey and Nayar can also feel a little secure about their places.

Bench Strength
T.S.Suman: Experienced, played for Mumbai Indians and Deccan Chargers
Ishwar Pandey: Leading wicket taker in Ranjhi Trophy last year.
Parvez Rasool: Promising allrounder from Kashmir, did well for India A against Australia
Mithun Manhas: Reliable batsman from Delhi
Mitchell Marsh: A decent allrounder and hard hitter
Aaron Finch: Hard hitter
Luke Wright: Decent seamer and hard hitter
Tamim Iqbal: A good aggresive opening batsman from Australia
Kane Richardson: Promising fast bowler from Australia

2013 Auction
The Move to trade Ross Taylor for Ashish Nehra +cash was too good. Ross Taylor makes the middle order invincible
Letting out Jesse Ryder was a mistake, but he is out of IPL anyways. Pune will have issues with the opening pair.
Kane Richardson, Finch were good inclusions

Match1: Delhi Daredevils v/s Kolkata Knightriders

 Squads-2013 updates

Delhi: KP injured, Ross Taylor transferred to Pune Warriors India for Ashish Nehra. Ben Rohrer an explosive batsman signed as replacement for injured Jesse Ryder(signed in the auction :) )

In form Manpreet Juneja also signed.

KKR: Sachitra Senanayake, a mystery spinner from Srilanka joins the team.

Batting:

Locals: Exciting local talents with Delhi-Chand and Juneja

Delhi: Virender Sehwag, Unmukt Chand, Manpreet Juneja, Venugopala Rao, Naman Ojha, Irfan Pathan

KKR: Gautham Gambhir, Manoj Tiwari, Yusuf Pathan, Bhatia, Shukla,Das

Foreign: Both seem to lack a little fire power

Delhi: Warner,Jayawardene,Rohrer,Botha

KKR: Kallis, McCullum,Morgan,Doeschate,Shakib

Bowling

Pace: Even contest

Delhi: Morne Morkel,Umesh Yadav,Ashish Nehra,Andre Rusell, Irfan Pathan
KKR: Brett Lee, James Pattinson, L.Balaji,Shami Ahmed,Pradeep Sangwan

Spin: KKR anyday

Delhi: Botha, Vander Merwe,Nadeem,Pawan Negi

KKR: Sachitra Senanayake,Sunil Narine,Shakib Al Hasan,Iqbal Abdulla

Delhi have made a good acquisition in the form of Botha. Sachitra Senanayake should really boost KKR's bowling attack. It suits the spinning home track.

Pitch and Conditions

Slow and turning Kotla track should suit the home team owing to an awesome spin contingent(Narine, Senanayake, Shakib, Abdulla).

Expected Squads

Delhi Daredevils
1-David Warner
2-Unmukt Chand
3-Mahela Jayawardene
4-Johan Botha
5-Naman Ojha
6-Manpreet Juneja
7-Rudolph Vander Merwe
8-Irfan Pathan
9-Shadab Nadeem
10-Umesh Yadav
11-Ashish Nehra

Kolkata Knightriders
1-Jacques Kallis
2-M.S.Bisla
3-Gautham Gambhir
4-Manoj Tiwari
5-Yusuf Pathan
6-Shakib Al Hasan
7-Sachitra Senanayake
8-Iqbal Abdulla
9-Sunil Narine
10-Laxmipathy Balaji
11-Brett Lee

Rationale

• The slow Kotla track should induce the selection of Botha, Vander Merwe, Senanayake and Nadeem

• With three seamers(Pathan,Nehra,Umesh) Delhi would prefer Demerwe over the inconsistent Russell, althought they would have loved to have Morkel playing.
• The absence of McCullum should ease the inclusion of MS Bisla, the hero of the 2012 finals.
• Absence of Sehwag should provide a good opportunity for the inform Juneja.