IPL 10, Match 49, KXIP v KKR – Kolkata Knight Riders Predicted XI

Kolkata Knight Riders visit Mohali to face Kings XI Punjab in the 49th match of the tournament. The Gautam Gambhir-led side sits pretty at the second position ahead of Rising Pune Supergiant by virtue of their high net run-rate. KKR faced a demoralized King’s XI Punjab side after facing defeat in their previous match against Gujarat Lions.

Gambhir’s side will be buoyed after the inclusion Chris Lynn into the line-up as it completely changed the face of their batting. Lynn and Sunil Narine seem to be the powerhouse opening duo that had plundered over 100 runs in the powerplay. With two hitters at the top order, they will fancy their chances to score big runs at the batting belter at Mohali.

However, they will have a certain Sandeep Sharma waiting to welcome them with the new ball. Sandeep has made the likes of AB de Villiers and Virat Kohli his bunny this season. Hence, the contest will surely heat up at Mohali. Moreover, the fact that Kings XI Punjab need to win this match to stay in the race for the playoffs will only spice up the things.

Considering the high-intensity game, the Knight Riders would want to come up with their best combination. Here we look at the Kolkata Knight Riders Predicted XI for the KXIP v KKR encounter:

Openers (Chris Lynn and Sunil Narine)

The opening combination looks very threatening at the moment. Chris Lynn and Sunil Narine opened the innings for the Knight Riders in the previous game and that pretty much surprised many. Seeing Gautam Gambhir promote the other two batsmen to open the innings was indeed a master stroke from the skipper. Both batsmen added 105 runs for the first wicket in just 37 balls in the previous match.

Lynn has been in fine form this season. He made his comeback to the lineup after the brief injury layoff in the season. He hit a fifty on his return and that set things right for the team. On the other hand, Narine has been at the top order for the Knight Riders for quite some time now. He has been providing brisk starts to the KKR camp on a consistent basis.

Middle Order (Gautam Gambhir, Manish Pandey, Yusuf Pathan, Sheldon Jackson)

Gautam Gambhir has demoted himself in the middle order in order to ensure that the team has a power packed opening duo of Sunil Narine and Chris Lynn at the top. Gambhir has been the most consistent batsman for the Knight Riders in this season thus far. He has been getting runs in the top order which has been instrumental in helping Knights get decent starts.

Manish Pandey has not got a lot of opportunities this season. But the Karnataka lad has made the most out of the opportunities that he has got this season. He has a couple of match winning knocks to his name this season. The story of Yusuf Pathan has pretty much been the same. The hard hitting batsman has not got a lot of opportunities with the bat this season. However, even he has a fifty to his name and has been amongst the runs.

Sheldon Jackson might get an extended game this season. The clouds over the availability of Robin Uthappa still hover. Hence, it will be quite obvious to see that Jackson gets another game as the wicket-keeper of the side. He has not got an opportunity with the bat to play the longer innings yet.

All-rounders (Colin de Grandhomme)

The all-rounder spot has been claimed by Colin de Grandhomme. Grandhomme has not been given too many opportunities in either of the departments. Grandhomme was promoted to number three in the previous game and the Kiwi batsman did a fine job by scoring a decent 31 in the match. With the bat, he has been used as the sixth bowler who has been covering up the overs for the other bowlers who fail to contain the runflow on a given day.

Bowlers (Nathan Coulter-Nile, Ankit Rajpoot, Piyush Chawla, Umesh Yadav)

The Kolkata Knight Riders have a very good bowling lineup at their disposal. Along with Sunil Narine, who has cemented his place as the opener, they have services of Kuldeep Yadav and Piyush Chawla as spinners. Piyush is likely to get a game against the Kings XI Punjab considering the fact that the opposition skipper Glenn Maxwell has been struggling against the leg spinners.

Ankit Rajpoot and Umesh Yadav have been bowling well in the matches that they have played. Rajpoot made a comeback to the playing eleven after a brief break and was decent with the ball. On the other hand, Umesh Yadav was the pick of the bowlers in the last game with 3/36 to his name.

Nathan Coulter-Nile has undoubtedly been the most successful pacer for the Kolkata Knight Riders in the season. He has a couple of Man of the Match awards as the testimony of his performances. He did not play the last game but is likely to return to the playing eleven in this fixture.