Kings XI Punjab and Kolkata Knight Riders will go up against each other in the 52nd game of the 2019 edition of the Indian Premier League at the PCA IS Bindra Stadium in Mohali. Both the teams are on 10 points from 12 games and a win from here can pave their way to the playoff stages.
Kings XI Punjab finds themselves a spot below Kolkata Knight Riders over the net run-rate. They won the three games from the first four and looked all good. However, their inconsistent and giving away easy games have the reason for their dismal run. Ravichandran Ashwin has changed their XI in all the games which have been their only constant. They will look to put their best feet forward and stop another Russell show to give themselves a chance of qualification.
On the other hand, Kolkata Knight Riders will curse themselves for the position they are currently in. They made a stunning start to the IPL and then lost the form midway. They lost six matches at a stretch making their chances of qualification tough. The team need to come out as a unit and shrug away their over-dependence on Andre Russell to emerge victorious against Kings XI Punjab who have done a good job at Mohali. Also, the dip in form for Kuldeep Yadav has hurt the team’s chances badly as they look to other bowlers to fill his gap.
Meanwhile, only win will not help their cause as they need massive victories to topple Sunrisers Hyderabad and Mumbai Indians who are one step closer to the qualification.
Toss Report
Kolkata Knight Riders skipper Dinesh Karthik has won the toss and elected to field first against Kings XI Punjab at the PCA IS Bindra Stadium in Mohali.
Here is what the captains said,
Ravichandran Ashwin
I would’ve bowled first as well, but I’ll take batting too. We’ve lost players at the brink of the game, one of the captains was in fact kind enough to let me swap after the toss as well. We’ve got Sam Curran and AJ Tye back for us. Miller and Mujeeb are out.
Dinesh Karthik
We’re going to bowl first. After a long time, I won the toss so I was a bit confused as to what I should be doing, but they say there is a bit of dew out there. You have to control what you can control and I don’t think you should be thinking too far ahead. We’re playing with the same team.
Playing XI
Kings XI Punjab: Lokesh Rahul, Chris Gayle, Mayank Agarwal, Nicholas Pooran, Ravichandran Ashwin(c), Sam Curran, Simran Singh(w), Murugan Ashwin, Mohammed Shami, Arshdeep Singh, Andrew Tye
Kolkata Knight Riders: Sunil Narine, Chris Lynn, Shubman Gill, Robin Uthappa, Nitish Rana, Dinesh Karthik(w/c), Andre Russell, Rinku Singh, Piyush Chawla, Sandeep Warrier, Harry Gurney