Pune,  May 21: Two teams with matching firepower will come face to face when table-toppers Delhi Daredevils take on second-placed Kolkata Knight Riders in what promises to be a high-voltage first qualifier of the controversy-ridden IPL on Tuesday.
 In a season which has been marred by unsavoury incidents off the field, the IPL’s cricketing climax promises to be quite a treat with heavyweights making the last four.
 And no better than Delhi and KKR to kick off the business end of the event as the two teams have without doubt been the most consistent performers in the Twenty20 league this season.
 Both the teams boast of explosive batting line-ups. Their bowling attacks have also done exceptionally well in a format which is considered punishing for the bowlers.
 When the two teams came face to face in the league stage, the honours were shared with Delhi triumphing in Kolkata and KKR returning the favour when they visited the capital.
 On paper, the sides match up pretty well and it promises to be a battle of equals. If Delhi has the brutality of captain Virender Sehwag and David Warner, Kolkata have the answer in Brendon McCullum.
 If Mahela Jayawardene lends stability to Delhi’s batting order, Kolkata captain Gautam Gambhir has been equally inspirational for his team.
 In fact, both the teams have equally potent all-rounders in the line-up with Irfan Pathan rediscovering his old form for Delhi and Bangladeshi Shakib Al Hasan doing the job for Kolkata.
 On the bowling front, Delhi have a pace ace in South African Morne Morkel, who has not just been miserly in conceding runs but has also been wrecker-in-chief when it comes to picking up wickets.
 Ably supported by Umesh Yadav and Varun Aaron, Delhi’s pace attack has looked lethal with Morkel at the helm.
 Kolkata also have an intimidating pace battery with Australian Brett Lee likely to make a comeback after sitting out in the last three games.
 But with the likes of mystery spinner Sunil Narine, Iqbal Abdulla and Shakib in the rank, Kolkata will definitely have an upper hand over Delhi in the spin department.
 Kolkata have their own match-winning bowler in mystery spinner Narine, who has been consistency personified.

Lastupdate on : Mon, 21 May 2012 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Mon, 21 May 2012 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Tue, 22 May 2012 00:00:00 IST