The Kolkata Knight Riders will be up against the Punjab Kings in match 8 of the IPL 2022 at the Wankhede stadium in Mumbai tomorrow. Both the sides had a wonderful winnings start to their campaigns respectively however the Knights had to suffer a closely contested defeat against the Royal Challengers Bangalore in their second match.
Both the sides have had several close encounters in the earlier seasons of the IPL making their rivalry a very classical and intense one without a doubt. Hence the supporters of both the sides and supporters of neither will be hoping to witness another cracker of a match when these sides meet each other in tomorrow’s match.
KKR vs PBKS: Match Details
- Kolkata Knight Riders vs Punjab Kings, Match 8
- Venue: Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai
- Date &Time: April 1st at 7:30 PM IST
Kolkata Knight Riders: Analysis
Gameplan: The knights in spite of being in a comfortable position in the points table with a win and a loss each in their first two games have some questions unanswered especially after their tough loss against Bangalore. A major concern for them will their batsmen failing to resist the opposition spinners and throwing away the wickets at just the wrong time during the innings. A clear example of ghe above is the fact that RCB spinner Wanindu Hasaranga managed to produce figures of 4/20 in 4 overs against them in their last match.
Their bowling line up however has been a total contrast to the batters so far with some brilliant performances especially the character which they showed while defending a low total of 128 vs the Royal challengers in last game. Thus all KKR will be looking for tomorrow is a much improved batting show from their batsman so that they bag another crucial 2 points and go top of the table.
Probable Playing XI:- Ajinkya Rahane, Venkatesh Iyer, Nitish Rana, Shreyas Iyer (c), Sam Billings, Sheldon Jackson (wk), Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Tim Southee, Umesh Yadav, Varun Chakaravarthy.
Punjab Kings: Analysis
Gameplan: Punjab so far will definitely be a side that is pleased with everything that’s happened to them this season especially after their emphatic win against the Royal Challengers Bangalore in their first game. Their chasing down a mammoth total of 205 was indeed a big surprise to everybody. The batsman have shown brilliant presence of mind on various situations and all the batsmen in the batting order have fitted into the slots that’ve been provided to them by the management and coaching staff.
Their brilliant successful chase against a tough bowling line up as that of RCB that included quality bowlers like Siraj and Hasaranga proves the fact that they’ve displayed some real good performance and also a great deal of improvement as compared to the earlier seasons where they failed to kick start their campaign properly. The bowling department however needs to find a bit of rhythm especially after being hammered away pretty badly by a certain Faf Du Plessis in the earlier stages of the innings.
The ability to scalp early wickets and stop the quick flow of runs is something which Punjab will definitely be looking for from their bowlers in tomorrow’s match. Only then can they guarantee themselves of another 2 points and a confirmed place at the top of the table tomorrow.
Probable Playing XI:- Mayank Agarwal (c), Shikhar Dhawan, Liam Livingstone, Bhanuka Rajapaksa (wk), Shahrukh Khan, Odean Smith, Raj Bawa, Arshdeep Singh, Harpreet Brar, Sandeep Sharma, Rahul Chahar.
Probable Top performers
Probable best batsman of the match – Mayank Aggarwal
The Punjab Kings batsman and also the newly appointed batsman after failing to convert a good enough start in the first match against RCB will be looking to compensate for it in tomorrow’s match against the Knight Riders in another important match for his team. Aggarwal’s abilities with the bat especially while opening the batting is no new to the IPL fans especially after his brilliant century of barely 47 balls against the Rajasthan Royals in 2020 IPL.
An in form Mayank Aggarwal batting with full rhythm is the worst possible thing that KKR shall have to face tomorrow, which certainly will not be an easy thing to handle for Kolkata. Thus we feel that Mayank Aggarwal will go all guns against the Kolkata Bowling line-up and be the best batsman in the match tomorrow.
Probable best bowler of the match – Umesh Yadav
The Knight Riders will expect Umesh Yadav – their key bowler so far to be at his best again. His rare ability to keep picking up early wickets thereby putting pressure on the opponent right from ball 1 has been pretty much useful to his side in both the matches.
His troubling the top order of the opposition has almost become a formality presently. His red hot form will definitely be a big thing which KKR will be relying upon in order to emerge victorious in tomorrow’s match against RCB. Thus we expect him to be the best bowler in tomorrow’s game for his side.
KKR vs PBKS: Head to Head stats
Out of the total 29 matches played between them so far, KKr has had a clear edge over Punjab with 19 wins, in comparison to Pujab’s 10 wins. The historic clash between the two sides in the IPL 2014 finals is still fresh in all our minds for sure where KKR clinched victory in a high scoring thriller to lift their second IPL trophy.
Total Matches Played – 19
Won by KKR – 19
Won by PBKS – 10
KKR vs PBKS: Winning Prediction
Probable winner of tomorrow’s match – Punjab Kings
After a lot of careful analysis made based on the batting , bowling strengths of both the sides , their player combinations and a dozen other aspects related to the matches in the past as well, we feel that Punjab Kings will be winning tomorrow’s game thereby making it two wins in two games. The reason of our such prediction is the sheer batting brilliance of the Kings which they’ve displayed in the first game during their impossible looking run chase of 205 which they achieved successfully against all the odds.
Their classical display with the bat is for sure a big threat to any side’s bowling line up in this season’s IPL. A good enough bowling line up is there to assist this side’s batting thereby making it a really tough side to face for the Knights tomorrow. Thus it will not be a walk in the park for Kolkata when they face such an in form Punjab side and will have to strengthen every department of theirs with great strategies thereby trying to brighten their chances in tomorrow’s match thereby proving majority of our predictions wrong.