Revealed: Who are the Impact Players nominated for KKR vs PBKS match 44 of IPL 2025?

The list of impact players nominated for the 44th match of the Indian Premier League 2025 (IPL 2025) on Saturday, April 26, has officially been revealed.

The Ajinkya Rahane-led Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) are hosting the Shreyas Iyer-led Punjab Kings (PBKS) in the high-profile IPL 2025 match at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata.

This will be the second time in the Indian Premier League 2025 that the Knight Riders and the Kings will be going head-to-head with each other.

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When they met for the first time in the ongoing season, a low-scoring thriller was witnessed by fans as PBKS successfully defended 111 against KKR, which was the lowest-ever score defended in the history of the marquee T20 league.

Adding to the intrigue of the KKR-PBKS rivalry, their meeting before that match was in IPL 2024, and that contest saw PBKS chase down a gigantic score of 262 runs, which was the highest score chased down successfully in the tournament's history.

However, both KKR and PBKS will be low on confidence heading into the clash on Saturday as they lost their last match against Gujarat Titans and Royal Challengers Bengaluru - that too at home.

Another thing common in both the teams has been the issue in the middle order. Despite having star players from No.4 to No.7, KKR have the worst average (20.47), and PBKS are not too far at 23.90. KKR also have a problem at the top as they are the only team without a 50-plus opening partnership this season so far.

Talking about the head-to-head record, the Kolkata Knight Riders and Punjab Kings have clashed 34 times, with KKR holding a 21-13 edge over PBKS. Also, KKR have won 9 out of the 13 IPL games against PBKS in Kolkata.

IPL 2025: Punjab Kings win the toss and opt to bat

Speaking at the toss, Shreyas Iyer said that they will bat first as there are a few cracks on the pitch. He said:

"We are batting first. Since we are playing on the same wicket they played on. Can see a few cracks, will get an idea on how its playing. It's always been great to play in front of this crowd. Maxwell and Omarzai come in."

Meanwhile, Ajinkya Rahane stated that they have been playing good cricket and need to chase whatever target they get. He asserted:

"It's all about playing good cricket, need to chase down whatever the target is. Our bowlers have been bowling really well. They have improved a lot."

IPL 2025: List of Impact Players nominated for KKR vs PBKS match 44

Punjab Kings: Musheer Ahmed Khan, Suryansh Shedge, Harpreet Brar, Vyshak Vijaykumar, Praveen Dubey

Kolkata Knight Riders: Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Luvnith Sujith Sisodia, Manish Pandey, Anukul Roy, Anrich Nortje

IPL 2025: KKR vs PBKS - Playing XIs

Punjab Kings Playing XI: Prabhsimran Singh, Priyansh Arya, Shreyas Iyer (c), Josh Inglis (wk), Shashank Singh, Nehal Wadhera, Glenn Maxwell, Azmatullah Omarzai, Marco Jansen, Yuzvendra Chahal, Arshdeep Singh

Kolkata Knight Riders Playing XI: Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), Sunil Narine, Ajinkya Rahane (c), Venkatesh Iyer, Rinku Singh, Andre Russell, Rovman Powell, Vaibhav Arora, Chetan Sakariya, Harshit Rana, Varun Chakaravarthy