Punjab Kings are set to host Kolkata Knight Riders in the 31st match of the ongoing Indian Premier League on Tuesday at Maharaja Yadavindra Singh International Cricket Stadium, Mullanpur, Chandigarh. Punjab skipper Shreyas Iyer will be up against the side (KKR) whom he led to the IPL title last year. Ahead of IPL 2025, KKR had released Shreyas Iyer as he was not among the six players retained by the franchise.
Nonetheless, Iyer has been in red-hot form, boasting a 200-plus strike rate. In this season so far, he has been so consistent that he has overcome almost all of his obstacles. Now, looking at the team’s performance, they have played five games and clinched three victories. Inconsistency is quite visible as they look to push themselves into the upper echelons of the IPL standings.
On the other hand, KKR are also grappling with similar issues, having won three out of six games. They have shown flashes of brilliance but haven’t quite been able to execute perfectly. Meanwhile, their spinners, Sunil Narine and Varun Chakravarthy, who have fought for the side valiantly with their suffocating spells, will be expected to carry on with the same agility. In their last games, KKR recorded a huge win against CSK, while Punjab Kings are coming off a defeat against Sunrisers Hyderabad.
Head to head
Matches - 33
KKR won - 21
PBKS won - 12
Punjab Kings: Prabhsimran Singh (wk), Priyansh Arya, Shreyas Iyer (c), Nehal Wadhera, Shashank Singh, Glenn Maxwell, Marcus Stoinis, Azmatullah Omarzai, Marco Jansen, Yuzvendra Chahal, Arshdeep Singh, Yash Thakur
Kolkata Knight Riders: Quinton de Kock (wk), Sunil Narine, Ajinkya Rahane (c), Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Venkatesh Iyer, Rinku Singh, Andre Russell, Ramandeep Singh, Moeen Ali, Harshit Rana, Vaibhav Arora, Varun Chakravarthy