IPL 2021, PBKS vs KKR Highlights: Kolkata Knight Riders beat Punjab Kings by 5 wickets

A boundary from PBKS skipper to end the second over. Shorter ball from Cummins and Rahul cuts it away past backward point for a four.

Cummins to Mayank - SIX! The first maximum of tonight's clash. Short ball, Mayank looks for the pull but gets a top edge that lands beyond the third-man boundary.

Kolkata Knight Riders are off to a terrific start as Shivam Mavi bowls the first over brilliantly. Just 2 runs off it and KKR are 2/0 after 1 over.

Punjab Kings Openers - KL Rahul and Mayank Agarwal are out to bat. Shivam Mavi begins the attack for Kolkata Knight Riders.

Matches: 5

Runs: 80

Average: 16

SR: 121.21

vs Spin: 75 runs, 0 dismissals

vs Pace: 146 runs, 3 dismissals

• 50: This could be the Dinesh Karthik’s 50th IPL match for KKR.

• 100: Kuldeep Yadav is 1 match away from completing 100 matches across T20s.

• 7000: Eoin Morgan is 43 runs away from completing 7,000 runs across T20s.

• 1000: Eoin Morgan is 93 runs away from completing 1,000 runs for KKR in IPL.

• 50: Eoin Morgan is 8 sixes away from completing 50 sixes for KKR in IPL.

• 6000: Andre Russell is 19 runs away from completing 6,000 runs across T20s.

• 4000: Dinesh Karthik is 80 runs away from completing 4000 runs in IPL.

• 200: Dinesh Karthik is 11 sixes away from completing 200 sixes across T20s.

• 200: Dinesh Karthik is 10 catches away from completing 200 catches across T20s.

• 50: Dinesh Karthik is 13 dismissals as wicketkeeper away from completing 50 dismissals for KKR in IPL.

• 50: Dinesh Karthik is 13 sixes away from completing 50 sixes for KKR in IPL.

• 150: Karthik is 7 dismissals away from completing 150 dismissals as a wicketkeeper in IPL.

• 50: Harbhajan Singh is 1 catch away from completing 50 catches in IPL.

• 150: Nitish Rana is 3 sixes away from completing 150 sixes across T20s.

• 50: Rahul Tripathi is 9 sixes away from completing 50 sixes in IPL.

• 50: Rahul Tripathi is 4 catches away from completing 50 catches across T20s.

• 100: Shubman Gill is 4 fours away from completing 100 fours in IPL.

• 50 Shubman Gill is 10 sixes away from completing 50 sixes across T20s.

• 1000: Sunil Narine is 98 runs away from completing 1,000 runs in IPL.

• 4: Sunil Narine is 4 sixes away from completing 150 sixes across T20s.

• 400: Sunil Narine is 9 wickets away from completing 400 wickets across T20s.

• 150: Sunil Narine is 4 wickets away from completing 150 wickets for KKR across leagues.

• 10: more sixes KL Rahul needs to complete 100 sixes for Punjab Kings

• 11: more sixes Chris Gayle needs to complete 100 sixes for Punjab Kings

• 9: Fours KL Rahul needs to complete 200 fours for Punjab Kings

• 5: Wickets M Shami needs to complete 50 wickets for Punjab Kings.

• 4: Chris Gayle needs 4 more fours to complete 400 fours in IPL.

• 100: Chris Gayle is 6 catches away from completing 100 catches across T20s.

• 50: Riley Meredith is 1 wicket away from completing 50 wickets across T20s

KL Rahul(w/c), Mayank Agarwal, Chris Gayle, Deepak Hooda, Nicholas Pooran, Moises Henriques, Shahrukh Khan, Chris Jordan, Mohammed Shami, Ravi Bishnoi, Arshdeep Singh

"It's a new venue and new pitch, important we get off to a good start. That (crowd) would have been lovely but it's important that our country fights back from this. Games like that (win over MI) helps us a lot, difficult wicket to chase and glad that I and Chris could finish it off," said KL Rahul at the toss.

Nitish Rana, Shubman Gill, Rahul Tripathi, Sunil Narine, Eoin Morgan(c), Dinesh Karthik(w), Andre Russell, Pat Cummins, Shivam Mavi, Prasidh Krishna, Varun Chakravarthy

"We're going to bowl first. Excellent ground and good outfield, seems a good surface. We're going with the same team. We're looking to make a big step forward today. We believe in the guys within the squad and the playing XI. Moving forward, we'll see a lot more depth from our squad," said KKR skipper Eoin Morgan.

Kolkata Knight Riders win toss, opt to bowl against Punjab Kings

"There is a lovely even covering of grass on this pitch and that suggests that batsmen would be licking their lips. Not a big ground and there should be value for runs. The captain winning the toss would want to chase," reckons Kevin Pietersen on Star Sports network

All you need to know about live streaming details on Hotstar, match timings, venue for the Indian Premier League Match Today between Punjab Kings vs Kolkata Knight Riders. - CLICK HERE

Here's our PBKS predicted XI against KKR

KL Rahul (Captain/WK), Chris Gayle, Mayank Agarwal, Nicholas Pooran, Deepak Hooda, Moises Henriques, Shahrukh Khan, Chris Jordan, Ravi Bishnoi, Mohammed Shami, Murugan Ashwin

Let's have a look at our KKR Predicted XI against PBKS

Nitish Rana, Rahul Tripathi, Eoin Morgan (c), Dinesh Karthik (wk), Gurkeerat Singh Mann, Shakib Al Hasan, Andre Russell, Lockie Ferguson, Varun Chakravarthy, Shivam Mavi, Prasidh Krishna

vs Harbhajan Singh: 102 runs 5 dismissals

vs Andre Russell: 82 runs, 2 dismissals

vs Sunil Narine: 65 runs, 2 dismissals

Sunil Narine has scalped 28 wickets against Punjab, at an average of 18.18. It's the second-best figures by any bowler against PBKS, after Umesh Yadav's tally of 29. Narine also has an economy of 6.97 against Punjab.

• 7000: Eoin Morgan is 43 runs away from completing 7,000 runs across T20s

• 1000: Eoin Morgan is 93 runs away from completing 1,000 runs for KKR in IPL

• 50: Eoin Morgan is 8 sixes away from completing 50 sixes for KKR in IPL

Punjab Kings: 17

Kolkata Knight Riders: 17

The Knight Riders seamers have only taken 17 wickets this season and will require a huge boost as they will be playing at Ahmedabad. Their economy is also the worst in IPL 2021 so far. They are the only side whose pace bowlers are conceding at over 9 an over.

KKR are on a run of 4-consecutive losses and a lot of it has come down to their under-fire top-order. They had an average powerplay score of 47.5 in the opening two games, which has come down to 42.33 in the last 3 games.

Much of it has come down to Nitish Rana fading away after a bright start. After registering 137 runs in his opening two games, he has gone to add just 49 runs in his next 3 innings.

Also, Shubman Gill is averaging just 16.00 so far this season, his worst in any IPL season so far.

PBKS won by 8 wickets (Match 46, IPL 2020)

KKR won by 2 runs (Match 24, IPL 2020)

KKR won by 7 wickets (Match 52, IPL 2019)

KKR won by 28 runs (Match 6, IPL 2019)

KKR won by 31 runs (Match 44, IPL 2018)

Between overs 1-6: 71 balls, 71 runs, 100 S/R

Between overs 7-15: 110 runs, 73 balls, 150.68 S/R

Between overs 16-20: 40 runs, 22 balls, 181.81 S/R

Arshdeep Singh: 3/35 vs RR in Mumbai

Ravi Bishnoi: 2/21 vs MI in Chennai

Mohammed Shami: 2/21 vs MI in Chennai

Total matches: 27

PBKS won: 9

KKR won: 18