This season has not proved to be in favour of KKR so far. They have won just 4 of their 10 matches. However, they won 2 of their last 3 matches and should win all 4 of their remaining games to be in the race for playoffs.
Punjab Kings won their first 2 matches and lost their 3rd and 4th game. Since then, they are following a pattern of winning 1 match and losing another. With 5 wins, they are placed at no. 7 in the points table. If they win all of their remaining matches, their chances of qualifications are almost certain.
Team Preview
Kolkata Knight Riders
Venkatesh Iyer performed in the initial matches but is not looking in great form for the last 5 games. Despite a 100, he has scored just 303 runs in 10 matches. Rinku Singh is their most consistent performer with the bat (316 runs at 148 SR averaging above 52).
Varun Chakravarthy is their main weapon with the ball with the support of Suyash Sharma. Their pace bowling has been a flop this season which is the main reason for their continuous losses. KKR’s Caribbean stars also need to perform their best, without which their chances to qualify are minimal.
Punjab Kings
Their Indian batting core is one of the weakest. With Shikhar Dhawan back after injury, their top-order batting has somehow improved. Liam Livingstone (157 runs in 5 matches with 164 SR) and Jitesh Sharma (239 runs with 165 SR) in the middle order are Punjab’s prime strengths.
Kagiso Rabasa has looked completely off-colour this season. Nathan Ellis has taken 9 wickets in 6 matches but at an economy of 9.27. Arshdeep Singh is their main bowler but his performance in the last game might have dropped his confidence a little.
Probable Playing XI
Kolkata Knight Riders: Rahmanullah Gurbaz(WK), Jason Roy, Venkatesh Iyer, Nitish Rana(C), Rinku Singh, Andre Russell, Shardul Thakur, Sunil Narine, Umesh Yadav/Anukul Roy, Harshit Rana/Vaibhav Arora, Varun Chakravarthy
Punjab Kings: Prabhsimran Singh, Shikhar Dhawan (C), Matthew Short, Liam Livingstone, Jitesh Sharma (WK), Sam Curran, Shahrukh Khan, Rishi Dhawan, Harpreet Brar/Rahul Chahar, Nathan Ellis/Kagiso Rabada, Arshdeep Singh
Pitch/Venue Report
The match would be played at Eden Gardens, Kolkata.
- Total Matches Played-83
- Matches Won Batting First-35
- Matches Won Batting Second-48
- Average First Innings Score-164
The pitch at Eden Gardens is batting-friendly and one of the highest-scoring venues across India. 235 runs were scored by CSK in this season itself and this is also the highest score on the ground. Out of the 4 matches played this season, the team batting first has scored 200+ thrice and the average first innings score is 211. All three matches are won by the team batting first, while the other one by the team chasing.
Players to Watch Out For
Jason Roy
The English batsman has enjoyed success in this IPL season so far. He has played 4 matches and scored 50 in two of them. In total, Roy has scored 180 runs with a strike rate of 159. Jason will look to utilize the batting pitch of Eden Gardens and score his third fifty of the season.
Andre Russell
PBKS is no doubt one of their favourite opponents which Russell likes to play against. He has got impressive numbers against them. Russell has scored 366 runs against PBKS in 11 innings at a superb strike rate of 202. He has also won 4 MOTM awards against them.
Varun Chakravarthy
The only consistent performer for KKR with the ball is Varun. He went wicketless in just 2 matches and has conceded 40+ on just three instances when other bowlers are leaking runs at 10+ economy very often. His overall record this season is 14 wickets with an economy of 7.99.
Jitesh Sharma
Jitesh has got very good striking ability and has been finishing games very well for Punjab this season. He has scored 160 runs in the last 5 games at an explosive strike rate of 198. On a high-scoring ground like Eden, he can get big runs in those crucial death overs.
Arshdeep Singh
Leaving his performance against MI in the last game, Arshdeep has performed quite well this season too. Not to forget, he was the reason for Punjab’s victory against Mumbai in the first encounter. He is the pacer with the third most wickets this season with 16 wickets but would like to improve his economy of 9.8.
KKR vs PBKS Dream11 Team
Note: This is not our final Dream11 Team as we are not aware of the Toss Result/Final Playing XI of both teams at this moment.
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