Match Preview
Kolkata Knight Riders will square off against the Punjab Kings for the 53rd match of the IPL at Eden Gardens.
In their previous encounter, it was the Punjab Kings who defeated KKR in a rain-hit match at Mohali by 7 runs.
Therefore, KKR will now be itching to pay back PBKS by winning tomorrow’s game and also moving up the points table.
Meanwhile, PBKS will have to play their best cricket to ensure that they get a place in the top four.
Moreover, talking about their last games, the Kolkata Knight Riders won against Sunrisers Hyderabad by 5 runs.
On the other hand, Punjab Kings got a shocking defeat at home against Mumbai Indians by 6 wickets.
Talking about the points table, the Kolkata Knight Riders are in 8th place with 8 points and an NRR of -0.103.
Meanwhile, Punjab Kings are in 7th place with 10 points and an NRR of -0.472.
Thus, we will get an excellent game between these two sides tomorrow in Kolkata.
Match Details
Match: Kolkata Knight Riders vs Punjab Kings, Match 53
Venue: Eden Gardens, Kolkata
Date: 8th May 2023
Time: 7:30 PM IST
Pitch Report
The pitch at Eden Gardens favours batters more than bowlers and this game can be a high scoring one as well. The pacers will get some assistance early on, but it will be the spinners who will dominate this game. Furthermore, the average first innings score at this venue is 160-170 runs and the powerplay score has been 45-50 runs.
Full Squads for Kolkata Knight Riders vs Punjab Kings, Match 53
Kolkata Knight Riders
Aarya Desai, Jason Roy, Mandeep Singh, Nitish Rana (c), Rinku Singh, Andre Russell, Anukul Roy, David Wiese, Sunil Narine, Venkatesh Iyer, Johnson Charles (wk), Narayan Jagadeesan (wk), Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), Harshit Rana, Kulwant Khejroliya, Lockie Ferguson, Shardul Thakur, Suyash Sharma, Tim Southee, Umesh Yadav, Vaibhav Arora, Varun Chakravarthy
Punjab Kings
Atharva Taide, Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Harpreet Singh Bhatia, Shahrukh Khan, Shikhar Dhawan (c), Shivam Singh, Liam Livingstone, Matt Short, Mohit Rathee, Rishi Dhawan, Sam Curran, Sikandar Raza, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Prabhsimran Singh (wk), Arshdeep Singh, Baltej Singh, Gurnoor Brar, Harpreet Brar, Kagiso Rabada, Nathan Ellis, Rahul Chahar, Vidhwath Kaverappa
Probable Playing XI for Kolkata Knight Riders vs Punjab Kings, Match 53
Kolkata Knight Riders
Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), Jason Roy, Venkatesh Iyer, Nitish Rana (c), Andre Russell, Rinku Singh, Sunil Narine, Shardul Thakur, Vaibhav Arora, Harshit Rana, Varun Chakravarthy
Punjab Kings
Prabhsimran Singh, Shikhar Dhawan (c), Matt Short, Liam Livingstone, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Sam Curran, Shahrukh Khan, Harpreet Brar, Rishi Dhawan, Rahul Chahar, Arshdeep Singh
Probable Winner
From the team combinations and previous results, we can say that this will be a closely-fought contest between these two sides.
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