Kolkata Knight Riders will lock horns against Kings XI Punjab at Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi. KKR will be high on confidence as they have beaten Chennai Super Kings in the previous match by ten runs. Kolkata Knight Riders are currently at the fourth position in the league table. Kolkata Knight Riders have won three matches out of five matches they played so far. They will be eyeing to secure a win against Kings XI Punjab to solidify their position in the league table.
Kings XI Punjab has lost five matches so far in this tournament. Kings XI Punjab have only won a single match against Royal Challengers Bangalore this season. They have yet to find a settled team combination yet in this tournament. The team management will surely have to go back to the blackboard again to solve the ongoing problems as soon as possible.
Pitch Report:
The toss is going to be an important factor in this season. Previously we have seen the captains choosing to chase the total in T20 matches. However, in this tournament, the team batting second is facing problems to chase down the total because of various factors. The pitches are getting slow because of the dew factor. Captains will surely assess the condition ahead of the match and choose batting or bowling first according to their team strength.
Predicted Starting XI:
Kolkata Knight Riders:
Sunil Narine, Shubman Gill, Nitish Rana, Dinesh Karthik, Eoin Morgan, Andre Russell, Pat Cummins, Rahul Tripathi, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Shivam Mavi, Varun Chakravarthy.
Kings XI Punjab:
KL Rahul (Captain, wk), Chris Gayle, Mayank Agarwal, Nicholas Pooran, Mandeep Singh, Karun Nair, Mujeeb Ur Rahaman, Ravi Bishnoi, Mohammed Shami, Sheldon Cotrell, Arshdeep Singh.
Key Players:
Kolkata Knight Riders:
Andre Russell
Eoin Morgan
Kings XI Punjab:
KL Rahul
Mayank Agarwal
Captain And Vice-Captain Selection:
Captain Choices: Andre Russell, KL Rahul
Vice-Captain Choices: Eoin Morgan, Rahul Tripathi, Mayank Agarwal, Nicholas Pooran
Probable Winner: Kolkata Knight Riders
The team management of KKR has taken few decisions in this tournament. Few decisions have worked out and the others have not gone their way. However, they have tried to stick to a plan. They have changed the batting order in every match. Eoin Morgan has not been utilized properly by the management yet. A positive aspect of this team has been their bowling. The bowling unit has been able to create pressure on the opponents. The batting unit will have to contribute more if they have to qualify for the playoffs this season.
On the other hand, Kings XI Punjab is over-relying on the KL Rahul and Mayank Agarwal in terms of batting. No other batsman has been able to complement these two except Nicholas Pooran. Glenn Maxwell might be replaced by Chris Gayle in the match against Kolkata Knight Riders. Kings XI Punjab has lost the match against Sunrisers Hyderabad in a bad manner. It will be hard for the side to make a comeback within two days against KKR on Saturday.
