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Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) will take on Punjab Kings in match number 53 of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 at Eden Gardens in Kolkata on Monday, May 8.
Both teams will be searching for consistency as the T20 league approaches its business end. While KKR are eighth in the points table with eight points from 10 matches, Punjab are seventh with 10 points from 10 games.
In their last match, KKR pulled off an unlikely win against SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH) by five runs. Chasing 172, SRH were in command at 124/4, but Varun Chakaravarthy (1/20), Shardul Thakur (2/23), and Vaibhav Arora (2/32) combined to restrict the opposition to 166/8. Leggie Chakaravarthy bowled a brilliant 20th over, conceding only three runs.
PBKS, meanwhile, suffered a six-wicket loss at the hands of Mumbai Indians (MI) in their previous encounter. Batting first, aggressive knocks from Liam Livingstone (82* off 42) and Jitesh Sharma (49* off 27) lifted Punjab to 214/3. Mumbai, however, chased down the target on the back of their batting might.
Today's KKR vs PBKS toss result
Punjab Kings have won the toss and decided to bat first. Speaking about the decision, Shikhar Dhawan opined:
“The wicket looks quite dry; we would like to put up a good total on the board. Seems like it will stop a bit and come.”
For Punjab, Bhanuka Rajapaksa comes in place of Matthew Short. Kolkata are going in with the same team.
KKR vs PBKS - Today's match playing XIs
Kolkata Knight Riders: Rahmanullah Gurbaz (w), Venkatesh Iyer, Nitish Rana (c), Rinku Singh, Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Shardul Thakur, Vaibhav Arora, Harshit Rana, Suyash Sharma, Varun Chakaravarthy.
Kolkata subs: Jason Roy, Anukul Roy, Narayan Jagadeesan, Kulwant Khejroliya, Lockie Ferguson.
Punjab Kings: Prabhsimran Singh, Shikhar Dhawan (c), Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Liam Livingstone, Jitesh Sharma (w), Sam Curran, Shahrukh Khan, Harpreet Brar, Rishi Dhawan, Rahul Chahar, Arshdeep Singh.
Punjab subs: Nathan Ellis, Sikandar Raza, Atharva Taide, Mohit Rathee, Matthew Short.
Today's KKR vs PBKS pitch report
According to Mark Howard and Pommie Mbangwa, the pitch has kind of a mosaic effect, and looks quite hard. It looks a little bit drier than the last time around. There could be a little more spin for the spinners. The bowlers need to make them hit to the longer square side, be it pace or spin.
Today's KKR vs PBKS match players list
Kolkata Knight Riders squad: Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), Jason Roy, Venkatesh Iyer, Nitish Rana (c), Andre Russell, Rinku Singh, Sunil Narine, Shardul Thakur, Vaibhav Arora, Harshit Rana, Varun Chakaravarthy, Anukul Roy, Suyash Sharma, N Jagadeesan, Kulwant Khejroliya, Mandeep Singh, Tim Southee, David Wiese, Umesh Yadav, Aarya Desai.
Punjab Kings squad: Shikhar Dhawan (c), Prabhsimran Singh, Matthew Short, Liam Livingstone, Sam Curran, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Shahrukh Khan, Harpreet Brar, Rishi Dhawan, Rahul Chahar, Arshdeep Singh, Nathan Ellis, Sikandar Raza, Atharva Taide, Mohit Rathee, Shivam Singh, Kagiso Rabada, Harpreet Singh Bhatia, Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Baltej Singh, Vidhwath Kaverappa, Gurnoor Brar.
KKR vs LSG - Today's match umpires
On-field umpires: Jayaraman Madanagopal, Akshay Totre
TV umpire: Ulhas Gandhe
Match Referee: Sanjay Raul
