Strongest Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) Playing XI against Punjab Kings (PBKS)

Kolkata Knight Riders lost their fourth straight match in the Indian Premier League 2019. The team has stuck to similar kinds of combinations in all their matches. The mentor of the side, David Hussey has hinted that there could be some changes in the team.

Here is the predicted XI of Kolkata Knight Riders for their match against Punjab Kings

Openers (Shubman Gill and Nitish Rana)

The opening combination of the Kolkata Knight Riders has been slightly disappointing with the kind of performance they put up in the previous match. KKR scored only 21 runs in the powerplay overs, which also included an embarrassing run out of Shubman Gill. With the different conditions at play in this match, the team will want a better performance from the openers. While Rana did get them off to a good start in the first couple of games, his form hasn’t been like that since then. 

Middle-order (Rahul Tripathi, Eoin Morgan, and Dinesh Karthik)

KKR will be glad about the way Rahul Tripathi has played in this tournament so far. In the previous match as well, he was the only one who looked like scoring runs quickly. During that match, he scored 36 runs from 26 balls. He was involved in an unlucky dismissal of the captain, who ran himself out for a duck. 

It is really important that the captain gets some runs under his belt. It will not only motivate the team but make up for a solid middle-order. Dinesh Karthik is another batsman, who would be looking to get a substantial score for his team. He has been given opportunity back to back, and it is high time he responds. 

All-rounders (Andre Russell and Sunil Narine)

Andre Russell and Sunil Narine have not been at their best in the IPL 2021. Their performances have been one of the driving aspects of their strategy for the last few years. KKR’s disappointing performance this season could be because of their main two overseas stars not pulling their side to a match-winning situation. A good performance has been a long time coming from the two West Indians. 

Bowlers (Pat Cummins, Varun Chakravarthy, Shivam Mavi, Prasidh Krishna)

Shivam Mavi was brought into the team in the previous match in place of Kamlesh Nagarkoti. In his first outing of the IPL 2021, he bowled a four-over spell, in which he gave away only 19 runs and took one wicket. This should make the Kolkata Knight Riders team back the youngster for another match. 

Pat Cummins has done well in some of the matches, but more than anything the team would want him to pick a handful of wickets. Varun Chakravarthy has been consistent with his lines this season and picked up some wickets too. Prasidh Krishna should also retain his place in this playing XI.

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