Kings XI Punjab in their last two games proved a good side, contrary to expectations. It seems they have applied Mentor Virender Sehwag’s words of wisdom of playing fearless cricket. King XI Punjab’s performance in their first two games was unexpectedly good. They defeated Rising Pune Supergiants in their first game and then Royal Challengers Bangalore in their second game.
Now they will shift their base to Kolkata for a day to face Kolkata Knight Riders. Kolkata Knight Riders, after winning against Gujarat convincingly was defeated by Mumbai Indians in a close game. Hardik Pandya and Nitish Rana innings gave KKR their first defeat in the season. On the other hand, KXIP has won both the games they have played.
This match is scheduled at Eden Gardens and traditionally the track is a bit slow and helpful for spinners and KKR is the completely equipped with spinners in their side.
With Sunil Narine, Piyush Chawla, Kuldeep Yadav, Shakib al Hasan they have got variety in their spin department. On the other hand, Kings XI Punjab is lacking behind in the spin game with only recognised name of Axar Patel and the other is an all-rounder and captain Maxwell himself.
Recent form this season- (Kings XI Punjab)
Kings XI Punjab has won their both games, one against Pune and the other one against Bangalore. They will be looking to continue the good work.
Previous Encounters-
In the previous edition of Indian Premier League, Kolkata Knight Riders had the upper hand over Kings XI Punjab in both their league round matches. In the first low scoring game, Kolkata defeated Punjab by six wickets, Robin Uthappa scored 54 in that encounter. In the next meeting, Axar Patel and Glenn Maxwell tried their best to win but they were unlucky to end up on a losing side again.
Talking Point-
Kings XI Punjab is playing with a new skipper Glenn Maxwell and did well so far in IPL 2017, now they are going to face KKR which is a tough squad to face in their backyard. It will be a new challenge coming in the way of Glenn Maxwell as a skipper. As Kolkata is going to be spin friendly wicket, we might see Swapnil Singh or KC Cariappa coming in for T Natarajan or another option would b Gurkeerat Singh Maan to strengthen their batting more and he can bowl off-spin as well.
Chris Lynn got an injury on his shoulder and KKR team management may have to force one change and KKR might go with their usual opening partners Gautam Gambhir and Robin Uthappa.
Predicted XI-
Manan Vohra, Hashim Amla, Glenn Maxwell(C), David Miller, Wridhiman Saha(WK), Marcus Stioinis, Axar Patel, Swapnil Singh/KC Cariappa/Gurkeerat Singh Maan, Sandeep Sharma, Mohit Sharma, Varun Aaron.