IPL 2023, PBKS vs KKR: Under new leaders, Kolkata Knight Riders and Punjab Kings eye a positive start | Cricket News – Times of India

Eager to put the disappointment of last season behind them, Punjab Kings and Kolkata Knight Riders will lock horns to open their Indian Premier League campaign on Saturday.
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Injuries on both the sides, coupled with unavailability of a few foreign players, will make the choices restricted for the two teams, who have new leaders in place in the form of Punjab’s Shikhar Dhawan and Kolkata’s Nitish Rana.
These are the two franchises, which over the years have flattered to deceive. Inconsistencies in team selections seemed to have also affected the them badly.
While PBKS finished sixth, two-time champions KKR ended a rung below in the seventh spot in the 10-team competition last year.
On paper, though, PBKS looks a tad more stronger than KKR. But Englishman Jonny Bairstow’s absence will certainly leave a big void in Punjab’s team composition.
Bairstow has been ruled out of the entire IPL as he continues to recover from a leg injury he had sustained while playing golf last September.
In Bairstow’s place, PBKS has roped in BBL’s player-of-the-tournament this season, Matthew Short who is expected to open the batting along side Dhawan.
Other key PBKS players, who will miss Saturday’s game are hard-hitting all-rounder Liam Livingstone, who is yet to get clearance from the ECB, following a knee injury, and South African Kagiso Rabada who is on national duty.

PBKS squad is stacked with all-rounders, the most lethal among them being USD 2 million plus buy Sam Curran, who is more than handy with the bat and is a very fine death bowler.
Zimbabwe’s Sikandar Raza is another utility all-rounder PBKS could bank upon.
But they would depend on Dhawan and Short to provide consistency at the top. On the bowling front, PBKS would miss Rabada on Saturday and in his absence the onus would be on Arshdeep Singh, old guard Rishi Dhawan, Curran and leg-spinner Rahul Chahar to do the job.
The Mohali-based outfit would also rely on coach Trevor Bayliss’ tactical nous to shed their tag of perennial underachievers during the season.
PBKS has never won the IPL title in the last 15 years. The closest they came was a final appearance in 2014 and and semi-final defeat in the inaugural season.

For two-time champions KKR, new coach Chandrakant Pandit will be the key man as it is now an open secret that he along with Mumbai stalwart Abhishek Nayar are going to take all decisions from the dug-out and Rana’s only job would be to implement them.
KKR too have been hurt by injuries with regular skipper and batting mainstay Shreyas being almost ruled out of the tournament with a back problem.
The two Bangladeshis Shakib Al Hasan and Litton Das are also going to miss the opening game due to national commitments.
KKR’s strength too lies in the team’s all-rounders with the likes of Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, David Weise, Vernkatesh Iyer and Shakib Al Hasan in their rank.

Even though both Tim Southee and Lockie Fergusson have joined the KKR squad, the latter is a doubtful starter on Saturday having injured his right hamstring last week.
KKR’s weakness lies in an unsettled top-order and it remains to be seen who will anchor the innings.
In Wiese, Rinku Singh and Afghan Rahmanullah Gurbaz, KKR have some terrific hard-hitters who can pull off a win on their given day.
On the bowling front, Southee and Umesh Yadav will lead the attack in the company of Shardul Thakur, and Varun Chakravarthy.

(With agency inputs)