Kolkata Knight Riders Preview
This is a must-win fixture for KKR as they are placed at the eighth spot on the Points table. KKR need to win the rest of the league fixtures if they aim to stay alive in the playoff race. Their bowling attack is doing wonders as they managed to defend a total of 171 runs in their previous fixture. Vaibhav Arora & Shardul Thakur starred by scalping two wickets each & would aim to continue their magical spell in this fixture as well. With the bat, KKR’s middle order stepped up & scored crucial runs for their team while the top order couldn’t set the momentum. Jason Roy & Gurbaz failed to deliver for the team when the team needed them the most. They need to deliver in this crucial fixture if winning at Eden Gardens is on their mind. KKr has lost two matches at this venue while chasing the target. And they would try to change the trend against Punjab Kings.
Punjab Kings Preview
Punjab Kings is another inconsistent team in IPL 2023 & would need to deliver consistent performance if staying alive in the playoffs is their motive. Two of their last two defeats have come at the grounds of Mohali where bowlers failed to deliver. They are coming into this clash on the back of a defeat in their last fixture against Mumbai Indians. Some outstanding performances from Livingstone & Jitesh Sharma have helped Punjab to post 214 runs target.
However, they couldn’t defend their total & thus suffered a massive six wickets defeat. Sam Curran & Arshdeep are the best left-arm seam bowlers for Punjab who can scalp quick wickets for the team. But they failed to deliver in front of Mumbai & thus suffered a massive defeat. Only Rishi Dhawan could deliver with the ball in their last fixture. Considering their bowling form they would try to bowl first & put their batters to chase huge targets.
KKR vs PBKS Predicted Playing XIs:
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 Chakaravarthy
Punjab Kings Predicted
Prabhsimran Singh, Shikhar Dhawan (c), Matthew Short, Liam Livingstone, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Sam Curran, Shahrukh Khan, Harpreet Brar, Rishi Dhawan, Rahul Chahar, Arshdeep Singh
