After losing consecutive four matches, KingsXIPunjab is standing at the bottom of the table. Everything is going against them in this edition. They have played six matches and having won only one. KL Rahul’s camp will face Kolkata Knight Riders on Abu Dhabi’s Sheikh Zayed Stadium. KXIP have won their last encounter with Knights with 23 runs, which definitely will give them a slight sigh of relief. But that will not enough for them to make a comeback. KKR is coming with a great win against Chennai SuperKings and their confidence will be on top. KingsXIPunjab is suffering from the flop show of their Batting lineup. Punjab’s whole team has collapsed against SRH and scored only 132 in the respond of 201. Except Nicholas Pooran their other players were struggling to touch double figures. In the next two weeks teams are entering in the phase which will make almost clear the image of Play-offs Contenders. Any disappointing performance from now will make their chances fade to qualify in Play-offs. A failure against KKR will make their next seven matches in to the crucial must wins. One mistake can make the permanent dent on their this year’s campaign.
Kolkata’s squad is thrilled with victorious performance against CSK. But the enigma of their batting lineup had almost got exposed in the last match. They are still finding the way to fit Narine in batting order. Another trouble for Knights is their Power hitter Andre Russell is off form in this edition. Although Russell showed his value in bowling line up in the last match against Superkings but he is still finding his touch in batting which is giving a huge headache to the management. But the positive for KKR is Rahul Tripathi’s explosive form, the young player is in his lethal form. He scored tremendous 81 runs in his last match against CSK. Now Kolkata Knight Riders will be eyed for securing another two points in the tournament.
Pitch Report-
Sheikh Zayed Stadium’s pitch is equally favourable for batsman and pacers. Dew chances are high here. Temperature will be at 34 degrees with 20-25 percent humidity. Batting first will be the first choice for teams.
Match Prediction-
Going by the present form in tournament and head to head record, in which KKR is leading with 17 wins and punjab is on 8, Knights distinctly having the advantage over Punjab.
Probable Playing11-
KingsXI Punjab- KL Rahul (C), Mayank Agarwal, Chris Gayle/Maxwell, Mandeep Singh, Nicholas Pooran, Simran Singh (WK), Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Ravi Bishnoi, Arshdeep Singh, Mohammed Shami, Sheldon Cottrell.
Kolkata Knight Riders- Dinesh Karthik (C WK), Shubman Gill, Rahul Tripathi, Nitish Rana, Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, ), Eoin Morgan, Pat Cummins, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Shivam Mavi, Varun Chakravarthy.
Sheikh Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi-
Total T20 matches played- 19
Matches won by teams batting first- 10
Matches won by teams batting second- 9