After winning their first match against Rajasthan Royals by 14 runs in the backdrop of mankading controversy, Ashwin-led Kings XI Punjab will take on the likes of Kolkata Knight Riders at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata on Wednesday.
Both the teams kick-started their Indian Premier League 2019 campaign by winning their relative games and now will face each other in a bid to build on that momentum. Andre Russell’s late quick-fire show rewarded KKR with a six-wicket win against SunRisers Hyderabad. On the other side, it was Ashwin’s mankading of Jos Buttler that had triggered a dramatic collapse with Kings XI Punjab restricting Rajasthan Royals to 170 for nine to notch up a 14-run win.
A typical slow starter, Chris Gayle was 14 off 18 balls but the opener hit top gear in the 12th over hammering Jaydev Unadkat for four successive boundaries and scored a 47-ball 79 runs. Andre Russell will be KKR’s answer to Gayle as the KKR star also fashioned a sensational win, smashing an unbeaten 49 from 19 balls in their opening fixture against Sunrisers Hyderabad here two days ago.
IPL 2019, KXIP vs KKR Preview: All eyes on Ashwin as Kings XI take on Knight Riders
Squads:
Kolkata Knight Riders: Dinesh Karthik (captain), Sunil Narine, Andre Russell, Carlos Brathwaite, Joe Denly, Lockie Ferguson, Chris Lynn, Robin Uthappa, Harry Gurnley, Kuldeep Yadav, Piyush Chawla, Nitish Rana, Sandeep Warrier, KC Cariappa, Shubman Gill, Rinku Singh, Shrikant Mundhe, Nikhil Naik, Anrich Nortje, Prithvi Raj, Prasidh Krishna.
Playing XI: Chris Lynn, Nitish Rana, Robin Uthappa, Dinesh Karthik(w/c), Shubman Gill, Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Piyush Chawla, Kuldeep Yadav, Lockie Ferguson, Prasidh Krishna
Kings XI Punjab: Ravichandran Ashwin, Mayank Agarwal, Arshdeep Singh, Murugan Ashwin, Agnivesh Ayachi, Sam Curran, Chris Gayle, Harpreet Brar, Moises Henriques, Sarfaraz Khan, Mandeep Singh, David Miller, Mohammed Shami, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Karun Nair, Darshan Nalkande, Nicholas Pooran, KL Rahul, Ankit Rajpoot, Simran Singh, Andrew Tye, Varun Chakravarthy, Hardus Viljoen
Playing XI: Lokesh Rahul(w), Chris Gayle, Mayank Agarwal, Sarfaraz Khan, David Miller, Mandeep Singh, Hardus Viljoen, Ravichandran Ashwin(c), Varun Chakravarthy, Mohammed Shami, Andrew Tye
