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THE TIMES OF INDIA | Apr 26, 2024, 17:17:25 IST
KKR vs PBKS IPL Live Score: It's getting too close for comfort for the Kolkata Knight Riders. Their last two matches went all the way down to the wire with the hosts losing one and winning the other. Although the purple brigade is sitting pretty with 10 points at the halfway stage (after seven games) of their campaign, their bowlers' performance has raised some concerns as they made heavy weather defending 220 plus totals at home. They will hope for a far better and smoother finish against a struggling Punjab Kings side at the Eden Gardens here on Friday. KKR broke their bank in the players' auction to pick up Mitchell Starc, expecting the Aussie quick to lead their bowling unit. But as things stand now the left-hander has been far from impressive and although the team management had stood firmly behind him, it will not be surprising if they think about giving Starc a break. The pacer suffered an injury in his bowling hand in the last game and in case he cannot not make it, Lankan pacer Dushmantha Chameera can get his first match of this season. KKR posting four 200-plus totals in their seven games so far is mainly due to the breezy starts provided by Phil Salt and Sunil Narine. But their middle-order has not always been able to fully utilise that platform with skipper Shreyas Iyer, Venkatesh Iyer, Ramandeep Singh and Angkrish Raghuvanshi not being consistent. Maybe it's time to give Manish Pandey a look-in before entering the business end of the competition. It's time for the lower-rung teams to desperately play the catch-up game now and climb up the points table and in that context, time is running out for Punjab who are languishing in the bottom half of the table with four points from eight matches. PBSK bowling coach Charl Langeveldt has called upon his batters to "get more runs on the board" after another batting collapse against Gujarat Titans in their last match. Except the uncapped duo of Shashank Singh and Ashutosh Sharma, none of their batters like Prabhsimran Singh, Liam Livingstone, Rilee Rossouw and Jonny Bairstow have been able to take the attack to the rival camp. Skipper Shikhar Dhawan will once again sit out after missing the last three games too with a shoulder injury. The opener's absence has hurt the team badly. However, they can expect a better show at the Eden Gardens, which promises more runs than their new home-base in Mullanpur. But they will have their task cut out against quality KKR spinners Sunil Narine and Varun Chakravarthy after the way their middle-order caved in losing seven wickets to the GT spinners in the last match. Their pace attack of Kagiso Rabada, Harshal Patel and Arshdeep Singh might look impressive on paper, but has not proved menacing this season so far. Coming on the back of four losses in a row, the team will need every player to raise his hands now.
KKR vs PBKS Live Score - Starc's underwhelming performance so far
But it is Mitchell Starc, whose underwhelming performance (6 wickets at ER 11.48) is the worst among the specialist bowler. At an all-time high price tag of Rs 24.75 crore (USD 3 million), Starc must be feeling the heat but to be fair to him, some of the tracks, including the one at the Eden Gardens have been perfect belters where length balls are soaring into the stands. Compared to Starc, uncapped India pacers Harshit Rana (ER 9.25, 9 wickets) and Vaibhav Arora (9.57, 7 wickets) have been more impressive but they have also got hit at times. Against a side like Kings with some power-hitters at the back-end, a better performance will be warranted from the bowling unit.
KKR vs PBKS Live Score - Focus on the two Iyers
Save captain Shreyas Iyer, all the specialist batters have scored at a strike-rate northwards of 150 and that has been instrumental in the Shah Rukh Khan co-owned team posting four 200-plus totals in their seven games so far. Only Venkatesh Iyer's poor form has stuck out like a sore thumb and Nitish Rana's finger fracture has not only robbed KKR of a master player of spinners but also a very handy off-break bowler. However the same can't be said about the bowling unit where Narine with his immaculate line and length is the only person, who has been able to maintain an economy rate of just above 7.10 which is brilliant in times when 'Impact Player' is in vogue. The Trinidadian has also started leaking runs and the way Rajat Patidar took him on, hitting him for two sixes in one over, will definitely inspire the likes of Ashutosh and Shashank -- the two in-form batters of PBKS.
KKR vs PBKS Live Score - KKR big-hitters on song
Sunil Narine (286 @176.54 SR) and Phil Salt (249 @169.38 SR) have been phenomenal at the top, Andre Russell (155 @184.52), skipper Shreyas Iyer (190 @126.66) have all been among the runs. Even Rinku Singh, who has just faced 67 balls in 7 games has a strike-rate of close to 160.
KKR vs PBKS Live Score - No.2 vs No.9
KKR is currently second in the 10-team table with 10 points, four behind table toppers Rajasthan Royals (14 points) and the team's success is largely due to the batting efforts from the top-order.
KKR vs PBKS Live Score - Punjab under pressure!
In Punjab Kings, KKR meet a side that has been inconsistent and despite two good finds in Shashank Singh and Ashutosh Sharma, they haven't exactly done well during key moments and like every other year, they are all but out of play-off contention.
KKR vs PBKS Live Score - Starc under spotlight
Mitchell Starc will be desperate to justify his USD 3 million price tag as Kolkata Knight Riders bowling unit try to find ways to be less profligate when it is pitted against a perennially under-achieving Punjab Kings at the Eden Gardens.
Hello and welcome to our live coverage of Match 42 of the Indian Premier League between Kolkata Knight Riders and Punjab Kings.
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