IPL 2023: Match 53 KKR vs PBKS Preview, Playing XI, Live Streaming Details & Updates

KKR are currently eighth on the IPL points table while PBKS are seventh.

Published - 07 May 2023, 15:20 IST | Updated - 07 May 2023, 15:20 IST

3 Min Read

In order to stay alive in the race to qualify for the IPL playoffs, both Kolkata Knight Riders and Punjab Kings will be desperate to register a win when they take on each other on May 8 at the iconic Eden Gardens in the City of Joy.

Notably, in their last match, the Nitish Rana-led side managed to defeat Sunrisers Hyderabad by five runs and thus, will be full of confidence before taking on Punjab Kings. Their opener Jason Roy is in sublime form at the moment while the skipper himself along with Rinku Singh is playing well at the moment. The focus will be on Andre Russell as well since the West Indies international is yet to make a significant contribution.

When it comes to the bowlers, Varun Chakravarthy has once again regained his form and with that, he is currently eighth in the race to bag the IPL Purple Cap this season. The spinner has picked up 14 wickets in ten matches and has also proved to be economical.

Other the other hand, Shardul Thakur picked up two wickets in the last match and KKR will be hoping that he keeps up with his form as he can prove to be a dangerous custodian at the fag end of the tournament.

When it comes to Punjab Kings, despite scoring 214 runs in the last match, they lost by six wickets against Mumbai Indians. Liam Livingstone is in terrific form at the moment while stumper-batter Jitesh Sharma has done reasonably well so far.

However, the bowlers will look to improve going forward as ace pacer Arhsdeep Singh leaked 66 runs in 3.5 overs against the five-time champions. Others looked poor as well and thus, there’s a lot of room for improvement at the moment.

Pitch and Conditions

The pitch at Eden Gardens is heavily favouring the batters in the ongoing season. Spinners can be effective in the middle overs. Anything over 190 will be a good total and the team batting will most likely benefit.

Probable Playing XI for KKR vs PBKS

Kolkata Knight Riders
The home team is likely not to make any changes in the playing XI. However, a lot depends on the availability of Umesh Yadav. Other than that, they look more or less sorted at the moment.

KKR's Predicted XI- Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), Jason Roy, Venkatesh Iyer, Nitish Rana (c), Andre Russell, Rinku Singh, Sunil Narine, Shardul Thakur, Vaibhav Arora, Harshit Rana, Varun Chakaravarthy

Punjab Kings
The only change PBKS can think of making is bringing in Sikandar Raza in place of Matthew Short. However, given the conditions, the team may end up backing him. There are no other dilemmas other than that.

PBKS's Predicted XI- Prabhsimran Singh, Shikhar Dhawan (c), Matthew Short, Liam Livingstone, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Sam Curran, Shahrukh Khan, Harpreet Brar, Rishi Dhawan, Rahul Chahar, Arshdeep Singh