The battle between the top side Kolkata Knight Riders and the bottom side Gujarat Lions is set to roll in the 23rd match of the Indian Premiere League season 10 at the Eden Gardens on Friday. With KKR comfortably placed on top, they will look to do the same damage as they did when these two teams met earlier in the tournament.

But Gujarat Lions have a lot to think about before the game starts. Their batting looks good but they need to sort out their bowling issues or else they will repeat the same mistakes that they have been making so far.

The players to watch out for Gujarat Lions for their match against

Ishan Kishan – It was Ishan Kishan show in the end for Lions in their last match against RCB. His fighting knock of 39 off just 16 balls almost sealed the game for his team. But unfortunately he didn’t get support from any other batsmen. He shared a small 28-run partnership with Ravindra Jadeja but that was not enough to take his team through. After this performance from Ishan, he surely is the player to watch out for against KKR.

Andrew Tye – The man who took hat trick against RPS wasn’t impressive against RCB. He was whacked all over the park by Chris Gayle, Virat Kohli, Kedar Jhadav and Travis Head. However, with the new ball and in the depth over Tye’s spell will be useful.

Dwayne Bravo – He is the player who can replace out of form bowler Shivil Kaushik. Like James Faulkner, DJ Bravo will also add more depth to the Lions squad. DJ Bravo has done extremely well for CSK in IPL. If he gets in the Gujarat team, then he will be a handful all rounder who can bat and can restrict the opposition to minimum total because of his good bowling in depth overs.

James Faulkner – With Gujarat Lions struggling in this season of IPL, they need someone who could add depth in their batting and bowling department. James Faulkner from Australia is the man to do it for them. Faulkner can be brought in the place of Jason Roy. With Dwayne Smith and Brendon McCullum opening the innings well so far, Lions don’t need the services of Jason Roy. If James Faulkner comes in then he will give the Gujarat team more chances of winning the game. His experience and skills with new ball and in the depth overs will certainly allow Gujarat Lions to win the game against KKR.

Here are the players to watch out for Kolkata Knight Riders for their match against Gujarat Lions – 

Darren Bravo – Bravo is the perfect bowler to replace struggling Kiwi pacer Trent Boult. Boult in this season haven’t been up to the mark and looked the only weak link in the KKR squad. If Bravo comes in the team, the team will look stronger than before and this is because of his all-round skills. His batting in the middle overs will give KKR a strong target to set and his depth over bowling can restrict a team to low total. 

Robin Uthappa – In the absence of Chris Lynn, it should be Uthapaa who will open the innings with skipper Gautam Gambhir. In their last match, Gambhir and Sunil Narnie failed against DD. If Robin Uthapaa opens then it would be a good combination against Gujarat Lions. He has been a terrific opener and a good opening partner for skipper Gambhir. 

Manish Pandey and Yusuf Pathan – The duo rescued the team when they were in trouble against Delhi Daredevils. Gambhir and Co will hope the same performance from them whenever there is poor opening start like the last match. 

Sunil Narine – The mystery bowler has been Mr Fabulous for KKR over the years. He is the go to man for skipper Gambhir. Whenever there is partnership it’s Sunil Narnie who has broken it for KKR. In-fact Piyush Chawla and Kuldeep Yadav have been lucky to be working alongside him.