Kolkata Knight Riders vs Kings XI Punjab, Indian Premier League 2020, Today Match Prediction 26 Oct 2020

kkr vs kxip Match Prediction & Analysis

IPL is entering the crucial phase with the last 10 league games remaining in the tournament. Despite playing 45 games so far no team has sealed their place in playoffs and no team is out of contention mathematically. KKR was impressive with the bat and ball in their last game against the Delhi capitals and comfortably won the match. They will look to get 2 vital points in this match in the qualification race. KXIP, on the other hand, made a superb comeback in the final overs to pull off a heist against the SRH. They are on a roll in the second half of the tournament and will look to continue their good form.

TEAMS PREVIEW

Kolkata Knight Riders Preview

KKR made changes to their batting line-up and they paid rich dividends straightaway. Nitish Rana (83 runs) and Sunil Narine (64 runs) shared a massive 113-run partnership to lift their team from 42/3 to 157/4. Eoin Morgan played a couple of big hits to help his team end with 194 runs on board.

Pat Cummins removed Ajinkya Rahane and in-form Shikhar Dhawan inside the powerplay to leave DC reeling at 13/2. Varun Chakravarthy took the center stage as he kept taking wickets in heaps to reduce DC from 7/2 to 112/7 in no time. He took 5 wickets while Cummins had 3 to his name.

Top players to bet on:

Sunil Narine – Narine came in a crucial position and took on the DC bowling as he scored 64 runs off 32 balls with 6 boundaries and 4 sixes. He keeps finding different ways to contribute to the team in every season.  

Varun Chakravarthy – Varun registered the first 5-wicket haul in the IPL2020 with bowling figures of 5/20.  He has 12 wickets at an economy rate of just 7 RPO this season.

Kolkata Knight Riders Predicted Playing XI:

Shubman Gill, Nitish Rana, Rahul Tripathi/Siddhesh lad, Eoin Morgan (c), Dinesh Karthik (wk), Sunil Narine, Pat Cummins, Lockie Ferguson, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Prasidh Krishna, Varun Chakravarthy

Kolkata Knight Riders Actual Playing XI:

Shubman Gill, Varun Chakravarthy, Prasidh Krishna, Lockie Ferguson, Pat Cummins, Nitish Rana, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Eoin Morgan, Sunil Narine, Dinesh Karthik, RA Tripathi

Kings XI Punjab Preview

KXIP batting unit struggled on the slow pitch and put on an average 126 runs on board at the end of 20 overs. Nicholas Pooran (32 runs), KL Rahul (27 runs), and Chris Gayle (20 runs) were amongst the runs column last night. Maxwell might miss out in this match for James Neesham. 

KXIP bowlers were superb with the ball as they defended the 126 runs successfully by 12 runs. Spinners Bishnoi and M Ashwin dismissed the in-form openers to start the collapse. Chris Jordan and Arshdeep Singh picked up 7 wickets in the finals 4 overs to defend 27 runs successfully for pull an improbable win.

Top players to bet on:

KL Rahul – KL Rahul tried to adapt to the slow conditions and scored a brilliant run-a-ball 27 runs. But he was undone by a Rashid special before unleashing himself. 

Chris Jordan – Jordan came in to bowl in the second half of the match and used his slower balls to great effect on the slow wicket. He had superb figures of 4-0-17-3 despite bowling 3 overs in the last 6 overs of the match.  

Kings XI Punjab Predicted Playing XI:

KL Rahul (c & wk), Mandeep Singh, Chris Gayle, Nicholas Pooran, Glenn Maxwell, Deepak Hooda, Murugan Ashwin, Chris Jordan, Mohammed Shami, Ravi Bishnoi, Arshdeep Singh

Kings XI Punjab Actual Playing XI:

Arshdeep Singh, Chris Gayle, Mohammed Shami, Lokesh Rahul, Nicholas Pooran, Mandeep Singh, Chris Jordan, Ravi Bishnoi, Glenn Maxwell, Murugan Ashwin, Deepak Hooda

PITCH AND WEATHER CONDITIONS

Weather Conditions

Sharjah has a very good climate with little humid conditions during the match time. Dew might come into play in the second innings.

Venue Details

Sharjah pitch has slowed down considerably in the last few matches after the first 4-5 matches kept producing 200+ runs. We expect the runs to be around 150-170 runs in this match.

Toss: To Bowl

Chasing teams have lost just one game in the last 10 matches and we expect both captains to field first if they win the toss.