Kolkata Knight Riders might have lost their last game but they will be very pleased with how their bowling attack came together and made a very interesting match of a very low target and almost got them over the line. And that too when you consider that the opponent had players like Virat Kohli & Faf du Plessis and the whole batting line-up which is quite strong.
However, on the batting front, they will be a little disappointed and will be hoping that what happened in the last game was a one-off incident and the fact that batting order collapses like these should not happen again if they want to have a good season.
They will be coming into this game with confidence even after they lost their previous game but they will also be vary of their opponents’ batting depth and how they easily chased a target of 206 and that too in 19 overs!
Now speaking of confidence, no other team in the IPL will be feeling as confident as the Punjab Kings now. They have some of their star players like Jonny Bairstow and Kagiso Rabada yet to start playing and they have already started dominating the proceedings. One of the best things that they have done is that after a chase like that they have set a tempo for the rest of the matches to come and their bowling will have the confidence that their batsman can chase anything and that will allow them to bowl more freely and attack the opposition. And as for the batting, they will be looking to build on that momentum and confidence after a display like that.
Kolkata Knight Riders vs Punjab Kings Pitch Report, Weather Conditions.
The game will be played at the Wankhede stadium and as we all know, it is a paradise for batting. However, with that being said, there is also help and a lot of movement available for the faster bowlers. Expect some early wickets in the powerplay. Keeping wickets in hand and taking the game deep will be the way to go on this pitch.
The weather is expected to stay clear and it should be pleasant for playing cricket. However, dew will be a huge factor and the team that negates that factor will have a big advantage over the other. So, expect the captain winning the toss to bowl first.
Kolkata Knight Riders vs Punjab Kings Predicted Line-ups
Kolkata Knight Riders
Ajinkya Rahane, Venkatesh Iyer, Shreyas Iyer (c), Nitish Rana, Sam Billings, Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Sheldon Jackson (wk), Tim Southee, Umesh Yadav, Varun Chakravarthy
Punjab Kings
Mayank Agarwal (c), Shikhar Dhawan, Bhanuka Rajapaksa (wk), Liam Livingstone, Raj Bawa, Shahrukh Khan, Odean Smith, Harpreet Brar, Arshdeep Singh, Rahul Chahar, Sandeep Sharma
