The weekend will kick off with the first match of super Saturday as Kolkata Knight Riders will take on Kings XI Punjab.
KKR is coming off a really impressive win against the mighty Chennai Super Kings. The win definitely instilled a lot of confidence in the KKR dugout. They would certainly like to continue building momentum.
KXIP, on the other hand, is coming off another frustrating defeat against SRH. They have lost five of their six matches. They’ll have to desperately get back on winning ways elsewhere reaching the playoffs would be impossible.
Kolkata Knight Riders
KKR finally made the tactical decision of opening with a proper opener as they had Rahul Tripathi to open. He didn’t fail to deliver as he scored 81 off just 51 balls to single-handedly take KKR to a decent score of 167. The next highest score of a KKR batsman was only 17! Senior players like Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, and skipper Dinesh Karthik will have to step up their game.
However, bowling for them as been great. Despite in-form Shane Watson and Ambati Rayadu cruising towards the total, they restricted CSK to only 157 to win the match.
Kings XI Punjab
KXIP has been making a lot of changes, however, sadly none of them seem to be working. Batting has always been their strong point, but the team seems to be too dependent on either KL Rahul and Mayank Agarwal. Nicholas Pooran played a phenomenal 77 off just 37 balls.
Their bowling struggled as well as they picked up the first wicket in the 16th over. Youngsters Ravi Bishnoi and Arshdeep Singh bowled well to restrict SRH, however, it was too late.
Fantasy XI team
KL RAHUL (11) (C) – Rahul has been extremely consistent in this IPL. He has been a run machine and will be our captain.
SHUBMAN GILL (9) (VC) – Gill looked in great form in the second match as his fifty took KKR home. He scored another fifty against RR to take KKR towards a respectable total. He’ll be our vice-captain.
NICHOLAS POORAN (9) – Pooran has looked really great with many starts. Finally, he converted one of them into a big one against SRH.
MAYANK AGARWAL (9.5) – Agarwal is probably in the best purple patch of his life.
EOIN MORGAN (9.5) – Morgan has shown great form. He took KKR home against their match against SRH. He also played an important contribution against RR to put up a respectable total. He also gave a ray of hope in their last match chasing 228.
NITISH RANA (9) – Rana has looked good. He’s coming off a great 58 against DC.
RAHUL TRIPATHI (8) – Tripathi has been the man in form. He comes right away in our dream team.
RAVI BISNOI (8.5) – Bishnoi impressed everyone with his dynamic leg-spin. He’s coming off taking three big wickets against SRH.
SUNIL NARINE (9) – Sunil Narine regained his bowling form in the last match against CSK. He was instrumental in KKR defeating CSK.
SHIVAM MAVI (8.5) – Mavi has proved himself in his all the three matches.
PAT CUMMINS (9) – Cummins has bowled well. The last match being in Sharjah affected his figures, but he has looked in a decent rhythm.
PREDICTION
Both the teams have their own issues either with finding the right playing 11 or with the allocation of resources. However, KKR looks more balanced in both batting and bowling. KKR will therefore defeat KXIP.
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