IPL 2024: Kolkata Knight Riders vs Punjab Kings – Dafanews Match Preview

Kolkata Knight Riders will take on Punjab Kings in the 42nd match of the ongoing Indian Premier League 2024 at the Eden Gardens, Kolkata on Friday. PBKS’ hopes of qualifying for the playoffs are hanging by a thin thread as they have managed two wins in eight games.

KKR, on the other hand, almost has one foot in the playoff door with five wins in seven matches. However, it will be crucial for them to continue the winning impetus as things can quickly go south in a league like the IPL.

We take a look at the head-to-head battle, players to watch out for, and Squads of both teams in our match preview.

Kolkata Knight Riders: W L W L W

Kolkata Knight Riders have done a decent job as they have adopted an aggressive batting approach. Sunil Narine and Andre Russell have played a key role in the success of the team with both bat as well as the ball.

Punjab Kings: L L L L W

Punjab Kings have come close but no cigars have been theirs as they have suffered some heart-breaking losses. The Mohali-based franchise has lacked the knockout punch and they will need to rectify their mistakes. Their middle order will need to give more runs to the team, which hasn’t been the case thus far.

Head to Head: Matches: 32, Won by PBKS: 11, Won by KKR: 21.

Players to watch out for: Shreyas Iyer, Rinku Singh, Phil Salt, Venkatesh Iyer, Mitchell Starc, Varun Chakravarthy, and Sunil Narine will hold the key for KKR.

Shashank Singh, Ashutosh Sharma, Jitesh Sharma, Kagiso Rabada, Liam Livingstone, Arshdeep Singh, and Harpreet Brar will hold the key for PBKS.

KKR Squad: Shreyas Iyer, Phil Salt, K.S. Bharat, Rahmanullah Gurbaz (AFG), Rinku Singh, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Sherfane Rutherford (WI), Manish Pandey, Andre Russell (WI), Nitish Rana, Venkatesh Iyer, Anukul Roy, Ramandeep Singh, Varun Chakravarthy, Sunil Narine (WI), Vaibhav Arora, Chetan Sakariya, Harshit Rana, Suyash Sharma, Mitchell Starc (AUS), Dushmantha Chameera (SL), Sakib Hussain, Mujeeb Ur Rahman (AFG).

PBKS IPL 2024 SQUAD

Wicketkeepers: Jonny Bairstow (ENG), Prabhsimran Singh, Jitesh Sharma.

Batters: Shikhar Dhawan, Harpreet Bhatia, Rilee Rossouw (SA), Shashank Singh.

All-rounders: Liam Livingstone (ENG), Atharva Taide, Rishi Dhawan, Sam Curran (ENG), Sikandar Raza (ZIM), Shivam Singh, Chris Woakes (ENG), Ashutosh Sharma, Vishwanath Singh, Tanay Thyagarajan, Harshal Patel.

Bowlers: Harpreet Brar, Arshdeep Singh, Kagiso Rabada (SA), Nathan Ellis (AUS), Rahul Chahar, Vidhwath Kaverappa, Prince Choudhary.