IPL 2021, Match 21: Punjab Kings vs Kolkata Knight Riders (PBKS vs KKR) – Match Preview

On Monday (26th April) night, Punjab Kings (PBKS) and Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) will face each other at Narendra Modi Stadium (Ahmedabad) during the 21st match of the IPL 2021. It will be the sixth match for both these teams in this IPL season.

PBKS are currently in the fifth position in the IPL 2021 points table with four points while KKR are standing in the last spot in the same points table with only two points.

IPL 2021, Match 21: Punjab Kings vs Kolkata Knight Riders (PBKS vs KKR) – Match Preview

Punjab Kings (PBKS)

After closely winning against Rajasthan Royals (RR) in their IPL 2021 opening game, Punjab Kings (PBKS) lost against Chennai Super Kings (CSK), Delhi Capitals (DC) and SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH) before winning their last match against defending champions Mumbai Indians (MI).

Captain KL Rahul is currently in strong form with the bat by scoring 221 runs with the help of three half-centuries, including his highest score of 91 runs. Another opener Mayank Agarwal is now returning to his form while Chris Gayle has scored two 40s in this early moment of the IPL 2021.

Another Caribbean cricketer Nicholas Pooran has disappointed with three ducks out of four innings while his other score in this season was just 9. Deepak Hooda and Shahrukh Khan have impressed in the middle-order batting.

Among their bowlers, Mohammed Shami and Arshdeep Singh have taken 6 wickets each in this IPL season but most of their bowlers are struggling to maintain their consistency. In their last game, Ravi Bishnoi played his first match of this season and had bowling figures of 4-0-21-2.

Full Squad

KL Rahul (C), Chris Gayle, Mayank Agarwal, Nicholas Pooran, Mandeep Singh, Sarfaraz Khan, Deepak Hooda, Prabhsimran Singh, Mohammed Shami, Chris Jordan, Darshan Nalkande, Ravi Bishnoi, Murugan Ashwin, Arshdeep Singh, Harpreet Brar, Ishan Porel, Jhye Richardson, Riley Meredith, Dawid Malan, Shahrukh Khan, Moises Henriques, Jalaj Saxena, Utkarsh Singh, Saurabh Kumar, Fabian Allen.

Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR)

While Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) started this season with a victory against SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH), they then suffered defeats against Mumbai Indians (MI), Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB), Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and Rajasthan Royals (RR).

Nitish Rana scored two half-centuries in his first two games of the IPL 2021 while Rahul Tripathi also started this IPL season with a fifty. But now the top-order batting is struggling and it is making their journey very tough. Dinesh Karthik, Andre Russell etc have brought out some quality performances in the middle-order batting but it can only be effective if the top-order batting set up a good base.

Andre Russell claimed a five-wicket haul against Mumbai Indians and he is now the leading wicket-taker for KKR with 7 wickets. But the KKR bowlers are struggling to perform consistently. Varun Chakravarthy has picked up 6 wickets in five games and he is now improving. Among the KKR pacers, Prasidh Krishna and Pat Cummins have taken 5 and 4 wickets respectively.

Full Squad

Eoin Morgan (C), Dinesh Karthik, Nitish Rana, Shubman Gill, Gurkeerat Singh, Rahul Tripathi, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Kuldeep Yadav, Lockie Ferguson, Pat Cummins, Prasidh Krishna, Sandeep Warrier, Shivam Mavi, Varun Chakravarthy, Andre Russell, Tim Seifert, Sunil Narine, Shakib Al Hasan, Sheldon Jackson, Harbhajan Singh, Vaibhav Arora, Karun Nair, Ben Cutting, Venkatesh Iyer, Pawan Negi