Punjab Kings captain KL Rahul has won the toss and elected to bowl in their IPL match against Kolkata Knight Riders in Dubai on Friday.
KKR have made two changes tonight while Fabian Allen comes in for Chris Gayle in the Punjab Kings camp. There are two more changes with Mayank Agarwal and Shahrukh Khan coming in for Punjab.
KKR will look to keep a beleaguered Punjab Kings under pressure when they face off.
This game is very important for KL Rahul's Punjab Kings if they have any intentions of staying afloat in the competition.
Punjab, who are on eight points from 11 games, need to win the match to keep their play-offs hopes alive, while KKR (10 points from 11 games) also need a victory to boost their hopes.
Rahul had admitted after the defeat against Mumbai that his team has not played well under pressure and needs to put up a better fight.
For KKR, Venkatesh Iyer's (126 runs at strike rate of 144 plus) mastery against spin has not yet been a topic of discussion but it will be interesting to see if he can survive the first spell from the Punjab pace duo of Shami and Arshdeep. Also, how he tackles spinner Ravi Bishnoi and left-arm spinner Harpreet Brar during the middle overs will prove to be vital.
Venkatesh will certainly like to put up a strong show which will get him a fat contract during the big IPL auction next year.
KKR have also made one correct move by sending Nitish Rana up the order as he is a far better player of spin bowling than his skipper Eoin Morgan.
The strategy paid dividends in their win against Delhi Capitals earlier in the tournament.
Playing XIs
Kolkata Knight Riders: Shubman Gill, Venkatesh Iyer, Rahul Tripathi, Eoin Morgan(c), Nitish Rana, Dinesh Karthik(w), Tim Seifert, Sunil Narine, Shivam Mavi, Tim Southee, Varun Chakaravarthy
Punjab Kings: KL Rahul(w/c), Mayank Agarwal, Aiden Markram, Nicholas Pooran, Shahrukh Khan, Deepak Hooda, Fabian Allen, Nathan Ellis, Mohammed Shami, Ravi Bishnoi, Arshdeep Singh
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