IPL 2018, Match 18 KKR vs KXIP Match Prediction: Who will win the match today, Kolkata Knight Riders or Kings XI Punjab?

Kings XI Punjab and Kolkata Knight Riders are playing under the new captains this season, but they have got going pretty well as both of them are positioned in the top half of the points table right now after the first couple of weeks of the tourney.

Both KKR and Punjab have three wins under their belt at this stage, but the former is topping the table on the basis of better net run rate. Punjab is at no. 3, however, they have played a game lesser as opposed to KKR who will be featuring in their 6th game tomorrow.

All the three victories Punjab has secured in IPL 11 has come under home conditions with huge crowd support, however as they travel to the Eden Gardens where the conditions will be slightly different to what they had in Mohali, they will have their task cut out, both temperamentally as well in terms of skill.

Pitch and Conditions

The Eden Gardens pitch in the three games that have been held there has helped the fast bowlers a little bit and it’s will probably do the same again. The ball will fly through and good fast bowlers will back themselves to hurry the batsmen.

However while the Eden pitch provides some assistance to the quicks with decent pace off the deck, it doesn’t give them any lateral movement to work with, which means stroke-play for the batsmen is not impossible and if they are good enough to handle the carry that the quicks generate, they can score runs on both sides of the wicket.

Playing Combination

Kolkata Knight Riders

Probable Changes – No change

KKR continues picking Shubman Gill in the XI, but not playing him up the order where he belongs to. Probably their game plan is to use Gill at 4 if they lose early wickets, else keep him down at 7 if the second wicket falls after the 8^th over mark. While it’s not a bad game-plan from team’s point of view, it’s doing no good to Gill as a player who is struggling to find his feet in the lower order. It will be interesting to see what his batting position will be in this game.

The 4th overseas slot has been a matter of slight concern for KKR as both the overseas fast bowlers they have tried haven’t quite hit the straps, as well as they, would have liked to. However, in the previous game against the Rajasthan Royals, Tom Curran looked in nice rhythm and that would have been heartening to see for the skipper Dinesh Karthik. Curran with Andre Russell holds the key for KKR in the death.

Predicted XI: Sunil Narine, Chris Lynn, Robin Uthappa, Shubman Gill, Nitish Rana, Dinesh Karthik (C & WK), Andre Russell, Shivam Mavi, Tom Curran, Piyush Chawla, Kuldeep Yadav

Kings XI Punjab

Probable Changes – No Change

Aaron Finch was supposed to be dropped last game against Hyderabad after bagging two first-ball ducks, but Ravichandran Ashwin showed trust in the Aussie power hitter and persisted with him. Finch didn’t get much of a batting opportunity as he showed up towards the end of the innings and had only a few deliveries to face. The 31-year old remained unbeaten and is likely to be in the XI again tomorrow.

Punjab will also stick with Barinder Sran and won’t drop him for Axar Patel even if the latter is fit simply because of the nature of Eden pitch which is not spinner friendly anymore. Sran was fairly economical last night in Mohali as he tightened the snooze on the Hyderabad batters early on with the new ball and that helped Punjab a great deal in defending the total of 193 which was well within the reach of Hyderabad if they had got off to a flyer of a start on a flat pitch. The team management will expect another good show from the left-armer tomorrow.

Predicted XI: Chris Gayle, KL Rahul (WK), Mayank Agarwal, Karun Nair, Yuvraj Singh, Aaron Finch, Ravichandran Ashwin (C), Andrew Tye, Barinder Sran, Mohit Sharma, Mujeeb Zadran

Team Comparison

Punjab is a strong batting side with some really good T20 stroke-players in the top and middle order, but their weakness lies in the lower middle order where there is no decent finisher. With Ravichandran Ashwin batting at 7, their tail is a tad too long.

KKR, on the other hand, is all sorted with their batting. They have explosive openers up top, good players of spin in the middle order and a big, hustling finisher in Andre Russell who can take the game away from the opposition in a matter of a few minutes with his crazy six-hitting spree.

With the ball, KKR has more sting in the pace department as they have quicks who can hit the deck hard. Punjab’s quicks are more about variations which might not work on a true Eden Surface where the ball will fizz, rather than holding up. Spin wise, both the teams have X-factor which can break the game for them in the middle overs.

Probable Top Performers

Tom Curran (Kolkata Knight Riders), Aaron Finch (Kings XI Punjab)

Head to Head

Matches – 21, Kolkata Knight Riders – 14, Kings XI Punjab – 7

The timing of the match: 04:00 pm IST

Broadcast Details

TV – Star Sports 1, Star Sports Hindi, Star Sports Select 1

Live streaming – Jio TV, Hotstar

The prediction is for the Kolkata Knight Riders to beat the Kings XI Punjab in this match.

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