Kolkata Knight Riders skipper Dinesh Karthik won the toss and elected to bowl first against Kings XI Punjab in Match 52 of IPL 2019 at the IS Bindra PCA Stadium, Mohali on Friday.
KKR are unchanged while KXIP bring in Sam Curran and Andrew Tye in place of Mujeeb ur Rahman and David Miller.
Teams:
Kings XI Punjab (Playing XI): Lokesh Rahul, Chris Gayle, Mayank Agarwal, Nicholas Pooran, Ravichandran Ashwin(c), Sam Curran, Simran Singh(w), Murugan Ashwin, Mohammed Shami, Arshdeep Singh, Andrew Tye
Kolkata Knight Riders (Playing XI): Sunil Narine, Chris Lynn, Shubman Gill, Robin Uthappa, Nitish Rana, Dinesh Karthik(w/c), Andre Russell, Rinku Singh, Piyush Chawla, Sandeep Warrier, Harry Gurney
Karthik: We’re going to bowl first. After a long time I won the toss so I was a bit confused as to what I should be saying, but they say there is a bit of dew out here. You have to control what you can control and I don’t think you should be thinking too far ahead. We’re playing with the same team.
Ashwin: I would’ve bowled first as well, but I’ll take batting too. We’ve lost players at the brink of the game, one of the captains was in fact kind enough to let me swap after the toss as well. We’ve got Sam Curran and AJ Tye back for us. Miller and Mujeeb are out.
Game 52 of IPL 2019 pits Kings XI Punjab against Kolkata Knight Riders in Mohali. The result of Thursday night’s Super Over thriller between Mumbai Indians and Sunrisers Hyderabad means tonight’s encounter isn’t a must-win.
Had SRH overcome MI, KXIP and KKR would have been playing in a virtual knockout. Either of the two sides can afford a defeat but that would mean a reliance on other results in order to make the playoffs. Certainly, neither would want that.
Both KKR and KXIP have had an erratic campaign this season, but it’s the two-time champions KKR that probably may have the edge in this contest. Kolkata and Punjab are tied with 10 points from 12 matches, but the Dinesh Karthik-led side is placed a rung above Punjab at sixth in the eight-team competition owing to a better net run-rate.
KL Rahul, Shubman Gill, Mayank Agarwal, Robin Uthappa, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Andre Russell (captain), Ravi Ashwin, Piyush Chawla, Mohammed Shami, Murugan Ashwin (vice-captain), Sunil Narine
Kings XI Punjab vs Kolkata Knight Riders possible teams:
KXIP: 1. KL Rahul (wk), 2. Chris Gayle, 3. Mayank Agarwal, 4. Nicholas Pooran, 5. David Miller, 6. Sarfaraz Khan/Simran Singh, 7. Ravichandran Ashwin (captain), 8. Murugan Ashwin, 9. Mujeeb Ur Rahman, 10. Arshdeep Singh, 11. Mohammed Shami
KKR: 1. Shubman Gill, 2. Chris Lynn, 3. Dinesh Karthik (captain and wk), 4. Andre Russell, 5. Sunil Narine, 6. Robin Uthappa, 7. Nitish Rana, 8. Rinku Singh, 9. Piyush Chawla, 10. Sandeep Warrier, 11. Harry Gurney
Head to Head (IPL matches)
Matches played: 24
Won by KXIP: 8
Won by KKR: 16
Form Guide (most recent first)
KXIP: L L L W L
KKR: W L L L L
