It wasn’t a fruitful start for Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023. They looked clueless in their opening game against Punjab Kings as they suffered a 7-run loss as per DLS. But it’s fair to say that they weren’t up to the mark as they struggled to get going with both bat and ball. The start under the new captain didn’t go as expected but with the kind of talent and firepower, they have they would be hoping for a comeback.
The toss went in their favour but after that things didn’t go in their armoury as PBKS batters took KKR bowlers to the cleaners and smashed them all over the park. Although every bowler apart from Shardul Thakur took a wicket, but they conceded a run a fair amount of runs as PBKS posted 191 runs on the board. With the bat, they were left in splits as they failed to get going. Venkatesh Iyer and Andre Russell played fighting knocks but couldn’t take their side home.
Two changes Kolkata Knight Riders can make for their second game after the loss against Punjab Kings
The focus of Kolkata Knight Riders will now be on their upcoming game against Royal Challengers Bangalore that will take place on 6th April. With the game slated to take place at their home at Eden Gardens, it’s expected that they will make a comeback and also are likely to make some changes. Let’s take a look at two changes Kolkata Knight Riders can make for their second game after the loss against Punjab Kings:
Venkatesh Iyer in place of Mandeep Singh
Kolkata Knight Riders used Venkatesh Iyer as an impact player in the game against Punjab Kings. The left-hander played a decent knock of 34 runs in 28 balls, smashing 3 fours and 1 six. With the kind of role he played for the team, it is likely that the team can look to bring him into the first XI. It is expected that he can replace Mandeep Singh at the top. The Punjab batter scored 2 runs for the team and failed to provide his team with a great start. Therefore the team can look to replace him and play an all-rounder at the top.
Lockie Ferguson in place of Tim Southee
Another change that Kolkata Knight Riders might look to make in their second game against RCB is that they can bring in Lockie Ferguson in place of Tim Southee. The Kiwi pacer was injured in the first game and that’s why Southee got the nod ahead of him. Ferguson is expected to be fit for the second game and is likely to walk straight into the XI. Tim Southee also was very expensive as he conceded 54 runs as well.
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Probable Kolkata Knight Riders playing 11 for their second match against Royal Challengers Bangalore
Apart from these two changes, Kolkata Knight Riders are unlikely to make a change to their XI. Here’s the probable KKR playing XI for their second game against RCB:
Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk)
Venkatesh Iyer
Nitish Rana (c)
Rinku Singh
Andre Russell
Shardul Thakur
Sunil Narine
Lockie Ferguson
Anukul Roy
Umesh Yadav
Varun Chakaravarthy
Here’s the Kolkata Knight Riders squad for the IPL 2023
Nitish Rana (C) Rahmanullah Gurbaj, Rinku Singh, Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Anukul Roy, Venkatesh Iyer, Shardul Thakur, Tim Southee, Lockie Ferguson, Umesh Yadav, Varun Chakraborty, Harshit Rana, Shardul Thakur, N Jagadeesan, Vaibhav Arora, David Wiese, Kulwant Khejroliya, Suyash Sharma, Litton Das, Mandeep Singh, Shakib Al Hasan.
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