The second match of IPL 2023 will kick off at 3:30 p.m. on April 1. This match will be played between Kolkata Knight Riders and Punjab Kings at Punjab Cricket Association IS Bindra Stadium in Mohali. For the past three seasons, both teams have alternately defeated each other, but in the overall record, KKR has dominated Punjab Kings.
So far, a total of 30 games have been played between these two teams. Of these, Kolkata Knight Riders won 20 matches while Punjab won only 10 matches. However, this time it seems a bit difficult for the Kolkata team to maintain their best record against Punjab.
The Kolkata Knight Riders team will be on the field without their regular captain, Shreyas Iyer. At present, Shreyas’ involvement in this whole IPL looks doubtful. He is sidelined with a back injury. Nitish Rana takes over KKR in his place. This is the first time Nitish has led the team on a big rig, so you may miss the lack of experience here.
Even if we look at both teams, Punjab team seems stronger than Kolkata. Punjab Kings have a good mix of bowlers, batsmen and all-rounders. On the other hand, the Calcutta team will also rely more on their Caribbean partner Andre Russell and Sunil Narine this time.
This match between Punjab Kings and Kolkata Knight Riders will also be played at Mohali which is the home ground of the Punjab team. The Punjab team has been practicing here continuously for the past few days. In such a situation, beating Punjab at home can also be a great challenge for the Kolkata team.
Rahmanullah Gurbaz (goalkeeper), Jagdishan, Nitish Rana (captain), Venkatesh Iyer, Andre Russell, Rinku Singh, Shardul Thakur, Sunil Narine, Tim Southee, Umesh Yadav, Varun Chakraborty.
Shikhar Dhawan (Captain), Prabhsimran Singh, Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Liam Livingstone, Shah Rukh Khan, Jitesh Sharma, Rishi Dhawan, Sam Curran, Kagiso Rabada, Arshdeep Singh, Rahul Chahar.
