The 42nd match of the tournament between Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and Punjab Kings (PBKS). The match between them will start at 7:30 P.M. (IST).
Teams Analysis:
Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR):
They are standing at the 2nd position in the points table. In their 7 matches they won 5 and lost 2. With 10 points they are looking forward to an easy qualification for the playoffs. In their last match, a nail biting scenario happened against RCB where Knight Riders registered their closest win which was by 1 run.
If a complete all-rounder any team wants the see then Sunil Narine is the perfect example who is contributing very well in both batting and bowling. From KKR he is topping in both departments from the team. He scored 286 runs with a strike rate of 176.54 in which he hit 1 century and 1 half-century. In his bowling he grabbed 9 wickets with an economy of 7.11.
Phil Salt also assisted him in opening very well. He has contributed 249 runs till now with the bat and hit 2 half-centuries for his team. His strike rate is also very good from where he hit with a 169.39 rate. Finally skipper Shreyas Iyer got to score his first IPL half-century which came in the last match. He got some 30’s but was unable to convert those to big ones. He has scored 190 runs with a little low strike rate as compared to other batters in the team which is 126.67.
The monster in the team Andre Russell is having the best strike rate among the players in KKR this season. He is batting with 184.52 and scored 155 runs till now. With the bowl he is also delivering as he grabbed 9 wickets till now but economy tends to be on the higher side 10.05.
Other finishers Rinku Singh and Ramandeep Singh also contributed well in certain matches. Ramandeep’s knock against RCB in the last match resulted in the team getting par 200 runs.
The bowling department has been seen as a little weak as compared to their batting. Harshit Rana got 9 wickets with an economy over 9. Vaibhav Arora is consistent with his powerplay wickets and till now he has taken 7 wickets with an economy of 9.57.
The highest paid player in the history of IPL, Mitchell Starc has been constantly conceding runs except the match against LSG. His economy is 11.48 and has taken only 6 wickets. He is mostly expensive in the death overs. Varun Chakravarthy has taken 8 wickets but has not provided any match winning spell till now and his economy also touches above 9.
Probable playing 11 for the match:
Shreyas Iyer ©, Sunil Narine, Phil Salt (wk), Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Venkatesh Iyer, Andre Russell, Rinku Singh, Ramandeep Singh, Mitchell Starc, Harshit Rana, Vaibhav Arora.
(Impact Player: Varun Chakravarthy)
Punjab Kings (PBKS):
In the absence of Shikhar Dhawan this team is looking more miserable than before. In their 8 matches they won 2 and lost 6 in which 4 came back to back. They are also on the verge of exiting the playoffs race. The result of all the matches that they played in this season came in the last over which clearly depicts that they missed most of them just by a mere margin. This also shows in their last match when they progress towards an easy win over GT but Rahul Tewatia destroys their dream and clinches the victory.
The team’s batting is mostly dependent upon the two batters Shashank Singh and Ahutosh Sharma. These two came at number 6 and 7 positions. The top order failed to provide any valuable runs to the team which eventually took the pressure on these two players.
Shashank has scored most runs for his team with 195 runs with a strike rate of 168.10. Ashutosh on the other hand scored 159 runs in 5 matches with a strike rate of 189.29. These two are the reasons that they took Punjab almost to the winning stage.
In absence of Dhawan, Sam Curran got the leadership charge. In his batting he got disappointed in most of the matches except against DC in the first match where he scored a brilliant 63 runs. After that he was unable to score many runs while in the bowling he got little better stats as he grabbed 11 wickets till now. Big names like Jitesh Sharma, Liam Livingstone and Rilee Rossouw all failed to perform according to hard hitting skills.
Harshal Patel, though was expensive at the start of the season but as the tournament goes on he started grabbing wickets and is currently the purple cap holder along with Jasprit Bumrah and Yuzvendra Chahal. He has 13 wickets to his name and the economy being better which is 9.59 as earlier he was having above 11.
Kagiso Rabada and Arshdeep Singh also supported him from the other end with 10 wickets each taken by them. While spinners Harpeet Brar and Rahul Chahar have only given disappointment in terms of wicket.
Probably playing 11 for the Match:
Sam Curran ©, Prabhsimran Singh, Rilee Rossouw, Liam Livingstone, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Shashank Singh, Ashutosh Sharma, Harpreet Brar, Harshal Patel, Kagiso Rabada, Arshdeep Singh.
(Impact Player: Rahul Chahar)
Head to Head (KKR vs PBKS):
They played 32 matches against each other.
| KKR | PBKS | |
| won | 21 | 11 |
| Highest score | 245 | 214 |
| Lowest score | 109 | 119 |
Pitch Report:
The match will be played at Eden Gardens, Kolkata. This pitch has been a paradise to the batters. Out of 4 matches 3 of them registered 200+ runs in both the innings. The bowl came easily to the batters and they can easily target the shortest side of the ground. Pacers might get little help as compared to spinners.
Weather Report:
The weather will be hot and humid as the temperature will rise to 41 degree celsius and it will drop to 29 degree celsius at night. There is a little chance of rain but the match will not be impacted much. Humidity will also be close to 45%.
Best 11 for the Match:
Phil Salt, Shreyas Iyer, Shashank Singh, Sunil Narine, Ashutosh Singh, Andre Russell, Sam Curran, Mitchell Starc, Harshal Patel, Varun Chakravarthy, Arshdeep Singh.