The two teams have had contrasting journeys so far in the ninth edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL). While Punjab struggled in their first two games, especially with the bat, they bounced back strongly to win their third one comprehensively. Kolkata’s only loss in as many games a 6-wicket drubbing at the hands of Mumbai Indians, can be attributed to Rohit Sharma’s brilliance with the bat rather than them having a bad day in office.

Openers Murali Vijay and Manan Vohra have been in supreme touch but Punjab’s middle order has been shaky. Glenn Maxwell chipped in with a typical 14-ball cameo worth 32 to save the chase against RSPG but the Australian star hasn’t been as consistent. The management’s biggest concern, however, must be the captain David Miller’s indifferent form. To add to it, Shaun Marsh too has not had a great outing with the bat in the two games he had played since recovering from food poisoning. Bowling-wise, Sandeep Sharma and Mohit Sharma’s disciplined bowling restricted the Supergiants to a below-par 152 but, over the course of three games, none of their slower bowlers have been as effective.

Kolkata, on the other hand, find themselves in a tricky situation. The fine form of their top three Gautam Gambhir, Robin Uthappa and Manish Pandey means the middle-order has had far less exposure as the management would have liked, especially ahead of a game where the pitch is expected to be laden with runs. However, their two victories so far chasing 99 against Delhi Daredevils and 143 against Sunrisers Hyderabad have been set up by the bowlers. Despite lacking a ‘big name’ in their line-up, on paper, KKR head into the game as favourites.

Squads:

Kings XI Punjab (From): Manan Vohra, Murali Vijay, Shaun Marsh, David Miller(c), Glenn Maxwell, Wriddhiman Saha(w), Axar Patel, Kyle Abbott, Mohit Sharma, Pardeep Sahu, Sandeep Sharma, Swapnil Singh, Rishi Dhawan, Marcus Stoinis, Anureet Singh, Farhaan Behardien, Shardul Thakur, Gurkeerat Singh Mann, Nikhil Naik, Mitchell Johnson, Cariappa, Armaan Jaffer

Kolkata Knight Riders (From): Robin Uthappa(w), Gautam Gambhir(c), Manish Pandey, Andre Russell, Shakib Al Hasan, Yusuf Pathan, Suryakumar Yadav, Piyush Chawla, Sunil Narine, Umesh Yadav, Morne Morkel, Kuldeep Yadav, Jaydev Unadkat, Chris Lynn, Colin Munro, Sheldon Jackson, Rajagopal Sathish, Manan Sharma, Jason Holder, Brad Hogg, Ankit Rajpoot