IPL 2020: KKR vs KXIP Preview – Kolkata and Punjab fight for the 4th spot

Eoin Morgan’s Kolkata Knight Riders and KL Rahul’s Kings XI Punjab will take on each other at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium in Match 46 of IPL 2020. Kings XI have won 5 games, while Kolkata have won 6 games in 11 matches. KKR are coming off a dominating win against the in-form Delhi Capitals while KXIP defeated Sunrisers Hyderabad.

This clash is arguably the most important one of the league stage so far. The winner of this match shall make a huge case for the 4th spot in the playoffs, with the top 3 looking all set to qualify for the playoffs with 7 wins each already. The last time the two teams met, it was an extremely close encounter- with Kolkata winning the game by just 2 runs.

Match Info:

Match 25- CSK vs RCB

Venue- Dubai International Stadium, Dubai

Time – 7:30 PM IST

Head To Head:

Stat Attack:

Chris Gayle needs 16 runs to reach 1000 runs for KXIP in IPL.

Dinesh Karthik will be playing his 300th T20.

Nicholas Pooran is two short of completing 200 6s in T20s.

Team News:

Kolkata Knight Riders:

Spinner Varun Chakravarthy became the first bowler of the season to take a five-wicket haul against Delhi Capitals. Kolkata also batted well, posting 194 runs batting first. Sunil Narine and Nitish Rana got back in form, and Morgan’s decision to send Narine in at number 5 and Rana as an opener paid off extremely well. It shall be interesting to see which foreign player misses out if Andre Russell returns for this match.

Kings XI Punjab:

Punjab are on a roll with four consecutive wins and they are now at 5th place. Their bowlers put up an excellent show against Hyderabad, defending the lowest total of the tournament as of Saturday. Mayank Agarwal missed out in the previous match due to a hamstring injury he sustained, and Punjab would hope that he’s fit and fine for this crucial fixture.

Probable XI: