Both Kings XI Punjab and Kolkata Knight Riders have started off their IPL 12 campaign with victories in their opening game. Incidentally, both teams were under enormous pressure and won the matches from losing situations. Kolkata Knight Riders needed 53 to win from their last 3 overs and it was carnage on display by Andre Russell which helped KKR win with a couple of deliveries to spare.
The Windies all-rounder smashed 49 of just 19 deliveries. In the end, it was youngster Shubhman Gill who struck a couple of sixes in the final over of Shakib Al Hasan to seal the deal for the home team. Kings XI Punjab, on the other hand, was under pressure when Jos Buttler was going great guns. He smashed the Punjab bowlers all around the park before Ravichandran Ashwin ran out him in the non-striker’s end in the form of Mankading.
He was criticised by all and sundry following his actions. However, in the post-match presentation, he defended his actions calling it instinctive. If you ask me it was definitely against the spirit of the game as Jos Buttler had not backed up too much. Hence it was harsh on Ashwin’s part to whip the bails off after he allowed Buttler to move out of the crease.
Ravichandran Ashwin will be in the limelight during KKR vs KXIP match tomorrow
Ahead of his Punjab’s next encounter against KKR tomorrow, Ashwin will be the talk of the town. He might go on to regret it in the future but everyone has it’s take on a certain incident and Ashwin feels if the law is there then a bowler can dismiss batsmen in this fashion. Ashwin’s antics took the focus away from Chris Gayle who began IPL 12 with a sensational 79 of 47 deliveries which as studded with 8 fours and 4 sixes.
The inclusion of Sarfaraz Khan was a debatable one in the middle order but he repaid the faith shown in him by the skipper and the team management. The youngster scored 46 of just 29 deliveries which included 6 fours and a six. One of the scoop shots of Ben Stokes was simply out of the blue. Bowlers were good in the final few overs for Punjab as they defended the target by 14 runs in the end.
Punjab has a lot of areas to perform and they will show to continue their winning run tomorrow. Kolkata Knight Riders, on the other hand, will be playing at their home ground which is expected to go nuts and cracks if KKR plays well. The crowd support for Kolkata is immense at the Eden Gardens and they will definitely start as favourites.
The top order should look to fire which includes the likes of Chris Lynn, Robin Uthappa and Dinesh Karthik. Meanwhile, Sunil Narine if fit should bat at the top of the order for his exceptional abilities to find the gaps during the powerplays. Kuldeep Yadav had a rather off day against Sunrisers Hyderabad. The left-arm chinaman bowler will look to revive himself and get back among the wickets.
Date and Venue:
The match will be played tomorrow at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata from 8 pm.
Pitch report:
Kolkata has traditionally been a high scoring venue. Even in the last match, the home team chased down 182 in the final over. The pitch has something for the spinners and if they can pitch the ball in the right areas they can be successful. The team batting first should at least look to score 180 which should be a par score for the course.
Weather Report:
Conditions in Kolkata are expected to be hot and humid like the other day. However, the players will be relieved with the fact that they will be playing an 8 pm game and not a 4 pm game. Temperature is expected to hover around 23 degrees to 33 degrees. At night it should be somewhere around 23 to 27 degrees.
Match Prediction
Both teams started off their IPL 12 campaign with victories. However, both teams were in trouble and were the brilliance of a few individuals who turned on the game on its’ head. KKR and KXIP are both balanced teams. However, I feel that KKR has a slight advantage tomorrow. Hence I will go with KKR to win tomorrow’s clash.