IPL 2021 : PBKS V KKR Match Preview & Probable XIs
PBKS V KKR – HEAD TO HEAD : 27 MATCHES
PBKS WON : 9, KKR WON : 18
Punjab Kings will be up against Kolkata Knight Riders in the 21st match of the IPL on Monday, April 26 at the Narendra Modi stadium. This match will mark the start of the Ahmedabad – Delhi leg as the Chennai – Mumbai leg has been concluded.
PBKS are coming off a thumping victory over the defending champions MI in their last game. KKR, on the other hand, have had a nightmarish start to their campaign. They only have a solitary win to show from five matches and are positioned at No.8 on the points table.
KL Rahul and Chris Gayle played uncharacteristic but excellent knocks and ensured the two points for their team. Their job was made easier by the bowlers who restricted MI to a subpar total. MI could only make 131 runs at the end of 20 overs. The ploy of starting the bowling with Moises henriques and Deepak Hooda paid off as they didn’t allow the Mumbai batsmen to score easily. Ravi Bishnoi, who was playing his first match of the season, finished with outstanding figures of 4-21, picking up the wickets of Ishan Kishan and Suryakumar yadav in the process.
Punjab look well settled and with the big names performing, they would fancy their chances against the Knight Riders.
Meanwhile, KKR were very ordinary with the bat against RR. They just couldn’t get a start and made only 133 runs on a batting beauty at the Wankhede. The form of Shubman gill will be the point of concern for KKR. He hasn’t been able to provide starts at the top. Eoin Morgan has really struggled with the bat. He has scored just 45 runs in 5 innings. These numbers surely don’t do justice to his reputation. He would be itching to get runs under his belt. KKR probably leave too much for Andre Russell to do at the end and this has been the case for them all these years. It would greatly benefit them if Russell faces more deliveries upfront.
There’s too much for Eoin Morgan to think about. Lockie Ferguson still hasn’t got a game despite their bowling looking out of sorts. It would be interesting to see Morgan’s game plan from here on.
India and England recently played a 5 match T20I series at the Narendra Modi stadium. Eoin Morgan would have a fare idea of the conditions here. The average first innings score is 171. The pitches have offered assistance to both the pacers and spinners.
PBKS would want to continue with their winning combination though they might think of playing either of Jhye Richardson or Riley Meredith in place of Fabian Allen.
KKR would definitely want to get Lockie Ferguson in the scheme of things. He may replace Sunil Narine. Pat Cummins and Lockie Ferguson bowling in tandem could prove out to be lethal combination.
Probabale XIs :
PBKS : KL Rahul (C), Mayank Agarwal, Chris Gayle, Nicholas Pooran, Deepak Hooda, Moises Henriques, Shahrukh Khan, Fabien Allen, Mohammed Shami, Arshdeep Singh, Ravi Bishnoi
KKR : Nitish Rana, Shubman Gill, Rahul Tripathi, Eoin Morgan (C), Dinesh Karthik, Lockie Ferguson, Andre Russell, Pat Cummins, Prasidh Krishna, Varun Chakravarthy, Shivam Mavi
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