IPL 2018, KKR vs KXIP Preview: Kolkata looking to stop Gayle storm and Punjab

Kolkata Knight Riders on Saturday face revamped and high in confidence Kings XI Punjab in the match no. 18 of Indian Premier League 2018 at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata.

Kings XI Punjab has won 3 of their 4 games, and the heroics of Chris Gayle have made them even stronger. The West Indian has looked lethal with his bat playing blistering knocks in his last two starts, scoring 63 and an unbeaten 104.

However, KKR’s team has gelled well and have started to win games, complimenting each other extremely well. The opening pair of Lynn and Narine are yet to provide consistent results, and the bowling department also seem lost sometimes.

Punjab is the most destructive side in the powerplay overs this season, scoring 11 runs per over during the first 6 overs. KL Rahul looks to be in a good touch and with the re-emergence of Chris Gayle the top order is doing wonders for the Punjab outfit. However, the form of Yuvraj Singh will be a major worry and Aaron Finch has also looked a bit pale with his bat.

KKR’s spin troika Narine, Kuldeep and Piyush Chawla have done well to stop opposition score big in their overs, but the pace battery of Kolkata is leaking plenty of runs.

KXIP’s Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Barindar Sran and Andrew Tye has done wonders for the team with their tight bowling and wicket taking ability. Ashwin’s captaincy also takes away brownie points.

KKR have beaten KXIP in the last five encounters at this venue since 2013.

Interesting face-off: Narine vs KXIP: Narine has bagged 24 wickets in just 13 matches against KXIP in IPL - the most by any bowler against them.

Kolkata Knight Riders Probable XI: Chris Lynn, Sunil Narine, Robin Uthappa, Nitish Rana, Dinesh Karthik (c & wk), Andre Russell, Shubman Gill, Tom Curran, Piyush Chawla, Shivam Mavi, Kuldeep Yadav

Kings XI Punjab Probable XI: Lokesh Rahul (wk), Chris Gayle, Mayank Agarwal, Karun Nair, Aaron Finch, Yuvraj Singh/Manoj Tiwary, Ravichandran Ashwin (c), Andrew Tye, Barinder Sran, Mohit Sharma, Mujeeb Ur Rahman