Today’s match of IPL 2023 is Kolkata Knight Riders vs Punjab Kings (KKR vs PBKS). The host KKR is struggling at the moment to create a winning streak. Out of last five matches, it has lost three and managed to win only two matches. The team currently stands at 8th rank in IPL standings. Though, KKR was able to register a victory in the last match against the bottom ranked Sunrisers Hyderabad but it was a quite narrow win with just 5 runs. If KKR has to survive in the tournament, a win is a must in the upcoming match which will put KKR on equal points with four other teams.
Other the other hand is visitor PBKS, who lost its last game against MI by 6 wickets. Though, the team’s batting side performed pretty well by putting a score of 214 on the board, the bowlers completely failed to defend it. The Shikhar Dhawan led side lost 3 games out the last five played. Overall PBKS stands at 7th rank by winning 5 out of 10 games played so far. In it’s last encounter against KKR, PBKS maintained the dominance by winning the game by 7 runs. If it wins this game as well, PBKS is surely gonna enter top fours with 12 points to its credit.
KKR vs PBKS : Match Details
Venue : Eden Gardens, Kolkata
Date : Monday, May 8, 2023
Time : 7:30 PM IST
Watch Live on : Star Sports Network & JioCinema
Eden Gardens : Pitch Report
The pitch at Eden Gardens is traditionally a batters’ friendly one. Moreover, its smaller boundaries makes it easier for batters to hit big shots. Therefore, the match is gonna be a high scoring one. On bowling front, spinners are gonna be more effective in taking wickets than seamers.Dew will play a key role in the later stages of the match.
Out of 82 IPL matches played at Eden gardens, 34 have been by the team batting first and 48 by the chasing team.
The toss winning captain should field first.
KKR vs PBKS : Head to Head
A total of 27 clashes have happened between the two teams, out of which KKR has complete domination over PBKS by 20-11.
KKR vs PBKS : Team XI Prediction
Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR)
- Rahmanullah Gurbaz (WK)
- Jason Roy
- Venkatesh Iyer
- Nitish Rana (C)
- Andre Russell
- Rinku Singh
- Sunil Narine
- Shardul Thakur
- Vaibhav Arora
- Harshit Rana
- Varun Chakravarthy
Panjab Kings (PBKS)
- Prabhsimran Singh
- Shikhar Dhawan (C)
- Matthew Short
- Liam Livingstone
- Jitesh Sharma (WK)
- Sam Curran
- Shahrukh Khan
- Harpreet Brar
- Rishi Dhawan
- Rahul Chahar
- Arshdeep Singh
KKR vs PBKS : Best Performers’ Prediction
Best Batsman
Rinku Singh
The 25-year-batter has become the backbone of KKR team with his consistent performances throughout this T20 league. The ace batter has scored 316 runs in the last 10 matches with an average of 52.67 and a splendid strike rate of 148.36. The young cricketer appears in great form. Who’s gonna forget his extraordinary knock of 5 back to back sixes in last five balls to snatch away the match from GT. Since it’s a batters’ pitch today, he is the best pick for the batter of the day.
Best Bowler
Varun Chakravarthy
The KKR leg-spinner is currently ranked 10th in Purple Cap standings. He’s currently the highest wicket taker for KKR with 14 wickets in 10 matches with an impressive economy rate of 7.99. Having become Player of the Match twice, the mystery spinner is expected to wreck havoc on the batting line up of the opposite team as he did against RCB with 4/15. So, best pick for the bowler of the day.KKR vs PBKS : Today’s Match Winner Prediction: PBKS likely to win the match
Disclaimer: The above predictions are based on personal understanding and analysis of the author. Kindly make your own decision while making any prediction based on the predictions mentioned above.