KKR vs PBKS, IPL 2023 Highlights: Rinku, Russell lead Kolkata to win in last-ball thriller

Sharp inswinger from Vaibhav Arora for the second ball of the first over and Prabhsimran flicks it through backward squad for the first four of the night.

“(On his last game heroics) Nitish told me to challenge them on the longer side, and the fact that he backed me gave me a lot of confidence. (On his variations) This season I’m keeping it simple, using three main variations. We need to bowl better at home, it is a challenging ground with a flat wicket. If we can do well here then we might still have a good chance.”

KKR had scored 171/9 in their last match and SRH looked capable of chasing it down. They needed just 9 to win off the final over, Varun Chakaravarthy came in and gave away just three while taking the all-important wicket of Abdul Samad.

Prabhsimran Singh, Shikhar Dhawan(c), Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Liam Livingstone, Jitesh Sharma(w), Sam Curran, Shahrukh Khan, Harpreet Brar, Rishi Dhawan, Rahul Chahar, Arshdeep Singh

Rahmanullah Gurbaz(w), Venkatesh Iyer, Nitish Rana(c), Rinku Singh, Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Shardul Thakur, Vaibhav Arora, Harshit Rana, Suyash Sharma, Varun Chakaravarthy

“The wicket looks to be on the drier side. We are going with the same team. We wanted to bat first so that spin can come more into play.”

"We are going to bat first. The wicket looks quite dry, we would like to put a good total and defend it. That's a good thing that we are scoring 200 every game. One change, Bhanuka comes in place of Short. Seems like it will stop a bit and come."

Shikhar Dhawan wins the toss and Punjab Kings will bat first

The off-side to the right-handed batter is short tonight, 58 metres but over to the leg-side, it is 71 metres. The average score in first innings is 222 this season. When you look at the pitch, it has kind of a mosaic effect, looks quite hard. It looks a little bit drier than the last time around. It says to me maybe a little more spin for the spinners. The bowlers need to make them hit to the longer square side, be it pace or spin. You got to make sure you change the pace or otherwise you are gonna get lined up on a good surface, reckon Mark Howard and Pommie Mbangwa.

16 points ended up being the minimum last season for finishing in the top four and in that sense, KKR need to win every single match they have left to play in this league stage. They are currently on eight points with a net run rate of -0.103.

Varun Chakravarthy and Suyash Sharma have been a major source of wickets and wins and they normally come in to wreck the middle order. It is the middle order firepower of Liam Livingstone and Shahrukh Khan that has taken Punjab Kings past 200 in these last few matches and so they will be weary of the pair. 

Punjab Kings had won the last match played between these two sides by seven runs via the DLS method. PBKS had scored 191/5 with Bhanuka Rajpaksha, Shikhar Dhawan, Jitesh Sharma, Sam Curran and Shahrukh Khan all firing on all cylinders. In response, KKR reached 146/7 in 16 overs before the match was washed out.

Punjab Kings now have four consecutive scores in excess of 200, a record in IPL. However, PBKS have also conceded 200+ totals in their last four matches and KKR will know that if this must-win encounter boils down to a batting skirmish, they have the firepower to match.

Away teams have enjoyed success at Eden Gardens this season. KKR have not won at home in their last three matches and, even if their openers Jason Roy and Rahmanullah Gurbaz are in moderate form, their top order is a major weakness.

So who are the other players who have taken 400 more T20 wickets? Leading the line is Russell's former West Indies teammate Dwayne Bravo (615 wickets), then comes Afghanistan and Gujarat Titans' Rashid Khan (546), after which is another one of Russell's West Indies teammmates in Sunil Narine (485). The two haven't been picked in the West Indies for over three years now so its a bit strange to call them West Indies teammates. Then comes former South Africa spinner Imran Tahur (469), Bangladesh all-round ace Shakib Al Hasan (451) and Pakistan's Wahab Riaz (413).

Andre Russell batting prowess makes it easy for us to sometimes forget that he is also a very, very handy fast bowler. Well, today it is a bowling stat that he is getting close to. Russell is three wickets away from becoming just the seventh bowler to reach 400 T20 wickets. 

KKR: Rahmanullah Gurbaz(w), Jason Roy, Venkatesh Iyer, Nitish Rana(c), Andre Russell, Rinku Singh, Sunil Narine, Shardul Thakur, Vaibhav Arora, Harshit Rana, Varun Chakaravarthy, Anukul Roy, Suyash Sharma, N Jagadeesan, Kulwant Khejroliya, Mandeep Singh, Tim Southee, David Wiese, Umesh Yadav, Aarya Desai

PBKS: Prabhsimran Singh, Shikhar Dhawan(c), Matthew Short, Liam Livingstone, Jitesh Sharma(w), Sam Curran, Shahrukh Khan, Harpreet Brar, Rishi Dhawan, Rahul Chahar, Arshdeep Singh, Nathan Ellis, Sikandar Raza, Atharva Taide, Mohit Rathee, Shivam Singh, Kagiso Rabada, Harpreet Singh Bhatia, Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Baltej Singh, Vidhwath Kaverappa, Gurnoor Brar

Hello and good afternoon everyone! Welcome to our live coverage of today's IPL 2023 match as KKR take on PBKS in Kolkata. Stay tuned folks!