IPL 2024, KKR vs PBKS IPL Highlights: Bairstow's 108* powers Punjab Kings to 8-wicket win against Kolkata Knight Riders

IPL 2024, KKR vs PBKS IPL Live Score, Kolkata Knight Riders vs Punjab Kings: Curran has been poor for PBKS this season, and has been up to the mark with his captaincy skills. In eight matches, he has registered 152 runs and has taken 11 wickets.

IPL 2024, KKR vs PBKS IPL Live Score, Kolkata Knight Riders vs Punjab Kings: Iyer's captaincy has been good this season, but he has been average in batting, which is his main skill for T20 World Cup selection. In seven matches, he has registed 190 runs and is KKR's third-highest run-scorer this season. He will be eyeing a big knock tonight!

IPL 2024, KKR vs PBKS IPL Live Score, Kolkata Knight Riders vs Punjab Kings: Ashutosh Sharma has a strike rate of 198 in death overs this season and has been sensational with the bat for PBKS. But he hasn't been well supported by his side's other batters, except for Shashank. Also his position lower down the order has reduced his overall impact!

IPL 2024, KKR vs PBKS IPL Live Score, Kolkata Knight Riders vs Punjab Kings: Russell has a strike rate of 196.72 in the death overs this season. His match-up vs Rabada and Curran will be key, striking at 222 and 233 respectively.

IPL 2024, KKR vs PBKS IPL Live Score, Kolkata Knight Riders vs Punjab Kings: Salt has been in sensational form for KKR this seaosn. 204 of his 252 runs scored this season have come at Eden Gardens. He has a strike rate of 184 at home, compared to his away strike rate of 145.

IPL 2024, KKR vs PBKS IPL Live Score, Kolkata Knight Riders vs Punjab Kings: Both sides have faced each other in 31 IPL meetings, with KKR leading 21-11 against PBKS. In their last five encounters, KKR lead 3-2.

IPL 2024, KKR vs PBKS IPL Live Score, Kolkata Knight Riders vs Punjab Kings: Ahead of the match, PBKS spin bowling coach Joshi said, "He was in form and we really missed his batting services. We saw him batting yesterday, going through the nets and everything."

"He is on the road to recovery. Hopefully, he should be fit for the next game (against CSK)," he added.

IPL 2024, KKR vs PBKS IPL Live Score, Kolkata Knight Riders vs Punjab Kings: Speaking ahead of the match, Ramandeep gave an injury update regarding Starc. He said, "Yes, he's available. It's got to do with his workload management." 

"He is a legend. Cricket is a game of time. We can't judge him from a few matches," he added.

IPL 2024, KKR vs PBKS IPL Live Score, Kolkata Knight Riders vs Punjab Kings: RR are currently on top with 14 points in eight matches and are followed by KKR (10), SRH (10) an LSG (10) in second, third and fourth. CSK are fifth with eight points, followed by DC (8) in sixth position. GT (8) are seventh, MI (6) are eighth, PBKS (4) are ninth and RCB (4) are tenth.

IPL 2024, KKR vs PBKS IPL Live Score, Kolkata Knight Riders vs Punjab Kings: Speaking on the Impact Player rule, KKR's Ramandeep Singh said, "I will get to bowl when the opportunity arises, I am working on my bowling. The Impact Player rule is such that the use of the allrounder is reduced. Every team wants to bowl with their main fast bowlers."

IPL 2024, KKR vs PBKS IPL Live Score, Kolkata Knight Riders vs Punjab Kings: Speaking on the Impact Player rule, KKR's Ramandeep Singh said, "I will get to bowl when the opportunity arises, I am working on my bowling. The Impact Player rule is such that the use of the allrounder is reduced. Every team wants to bowl with their main fast bowlers."

IPL 2024, KKR vs PBKS IPL Live Score, Kolkata Knight Riders vs Punjab Kings: Narine has taken 33 wickets vs PBKS, which are the most for him against a single side in the IPL. He averages 19.90 vs them and also has an economy of 7.06.

IPL 2024, KKR vs PBKS IPL Live Score, Kolkata Knight Riders vs Punjab Kings: Harshal hadd a poor start to IPL 2024. He took only four wickets at an average of over 45 and 11.31 economy rate in the first four matches. But he has bounced back to form and has tkaen nine wickets, seven at the death, at av average of under 11 and 7.46 economy. He will be key against Andre Russell!

IPL 2024, KKR vs PBKS IPL Live Score, Kolkata Knight Riders vs Punjab Kings: Before IPL 2024, Jitesh was expected to be selected as a wicketkeeper-batter for India's T20 World Cup squad. But now he is not in contention anymore due to his poor form with PBKS this season. Ahead of the match, PBKS spin-bowling coach Sunil Joshi had a message for Jitesh. 

"Jitesh is a quality batter, and we know that the time has come for him to fire. There are multiple players in the IPL, who are eager to be part of India's T20 World Cup squad. For most of the players, making it to the Indian team will keep haunting them. So focus on the basics. You've got to perform and take it ball-by-ball, leave selection to the people who decide," he said.

IPL 2024, KKR vs PBKS IPL Live Score, Kolkata Knight Riders vs Punjab Kings: PBKS skipper Dhawan has been out of action due to an injury and is expected to return tonight! His match-up vs Narine wil be interesting. He averages 52.5 against the spinner, and has been dismissed twice in 91 balls. Curran also strikes at 169 vs Narine and has been dismissed only once.

IPL 2024, KKR vs PBKS IPL Live Score, Kolkata Knight Riders vs Punjab Kings: Starc wasn't there at the nets and is reportedly suffering from a finger injury that he sustained vs RCB. He might miss today's clash!

IPL 2024, KKR vs PBKS IPL Live Score, Kolkata Knight Riders vs Punjab Kings: Unlike previous seasons, KKR have been less reliant on their spinners, with Varun and Narine in average bowling form. Rana has been KKR's star bowler this season, with the new bal and also at death. Meanwhile, Russell has also contributed well with his bowling!

KKR IPL 2024, KKR vs PBKS IPL Live Score, Kolkata Knight Riders vs Punjab Kings: KKR have been simply flawless this season at home with three victories in four matches. Their only defeat at home was against RR, courtesy of heroics from Buttler. Meanwhile, Narine has treated the Eden pitch like his home, and has been well-complemented by the lies of Raghuvanshi, Salt and Russell.

IPL 2024, KKR vs PBKS IPL Live Score, Kolkata Knight Riders vs Punjab Kings: The PBKS batting order has also been out of sorts, with Shashank and Ashutosh getting bulk of the runs. Against KKR's fiery bowling unit, they will need to put in a collective effort and finally find some form. They need a massive improvement in batting tonight!

IPL 2024, KKR vs PBKS IPL Live Score, Kolkata Knight Riders vs Punjab Kings: PBKS have been very unlucky this season, and are now at the bottom half of the table. They have won only twice in eight games and aren't far from elimination. They have lost six of their eight matches but have been in the games till the end in most of these fixtures. So they have been pretty unlucky!

IPL 2024, KKR vs PBKS IPL Live Score, Kolkata Knight Riders vs Punjab Kings: The Eden Gardens surface has allowed good ball-striking and the short side boundaries have helped batters. We can expect the same today too!

IPL 2024, KKR vs PBKS IPL Live Score, Kolkata Knight Riders vs Punjab Kings: KKR- Philip Salt(w), Sunil Narine, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Venkatesh Iyer, Shreyas Iyer(c), Rinku Singh, Andre Russell, Ramandeep Singh, Mitchell Starc, Varun Chakaravarthy, Harshit Rana, Suyash Sharma, Anukul Roy, Manish Pandey, Vaibhav Arora, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Allah Ghazanfar, Sakib Hussain, Sherfane Rutherford, Chetan Sakariya, Nitish Rana, Srikar Bharat, Dushmantha Chameera 

PBKS- Sam Curran(c), Prabhsimran Singh, Rilee Rossouw, Jitesh Sharma(w), Liam Livingstone, Shashank Singh, Ashutosh Sharma, Harpreet Singh Bhatia, Harpreet Brar, Harshal Patel, Kagiso Rabada, Arshdeep Singh, Rahul Chahar, Vidhwath Kaverappa, Atharva Taide, Shivam Singh, Rishi Dhawan, Jonny Bairstow, Nathan Ellis, Tanay Thyagarajan, Shikhar Dhawan, Chris Woakes, Sikandar Raza, Prince Choudhary, Vishwanath Singh

Hello and welcome to the Live coverage of match 42 of IPL 2024 where Kolkata Knight Riders host Punjab Kings at the Eden Gardens. Stay tuned for more updates!