In a must win game, Kings XI Punjab will take on Kolkata Knight Riders in Mohali on Tuesday. If Punjab lose the crucial game, they will be out of the Indian Premier League playoffs and Kolkata, Pune, and Hyderabad join Mumbai Indians in the Top Four.

Punjab has to win all their remaining three games if they want to qualify and then hope that the Sunrisers lose their fixture against Gujarat Lions.

In their last game, Punjab had lost to Gujarat Lions despite Hashim Amla’s brilliant century. In this match, Punjab will be without the services of Amla and David Miller, who have left for national duty. Either West Indian all-rounder Darren Sammy or fast bowler Matt Henry is expected to replace Amla.

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Kolkata Knight Riders, on the other hand, are tied on 16 points with Rising Pune Supergiant, but are placed second due to a better net run-rate. A win will help open a two-point gap in the battle for a spot in the first Qualifier, and a better chance of reaching the final.

In their last game, they thrashed Royal Challengers Bangalore by six wickets, after a blistering partnership between Sunil Narine and Chris Lynn. The openers slammed 105 in six overs of the Powerplay to set a new record.

Time: 8 pm

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Venue: IS Bindra Stadium, Mohali

TV: Sony Max, Sony Six, Sony ESPN and their HD Channels

Head-to-head

Played: 20

Kolkata Knight Riders: 14

Kings XI Punjab: 6

Kolkata Knight Riders

  • Kolkata have defeated Punjab in their last eight matches. The last time KXIP defeated KKR was back in April 2014.
  • Punjab captain Glenn Maxwell has been dismissed thrice by Umesh Yadav in 19 balls, and twice by Sunil Narine in 31 balls. He scores at less than a run-a-ball against the duo.      

“Haven’t seen such a partnership to be honest. It was an unbelievable effort. This is the best partnership I’ve seen in my entire career.” – KKR skipper Gautam Gambhir on Narine and Lynn’s partnership.

Kolkata Knight Riders squad: Gautam Gambhir (C), Darren Bravo, Yusuf Pathan, Sunil Narine, Robin Uthappa (wk), Umesh Yadav, Suryakumar Yadav, Ankit Rajpoot, Trent Boult, Piyush Chawla, Nathan Coulter Nile, Colin De Grandhomme, Rishi Dhawan, Sayan Ghosh, Shakib Al Hasan, Sheldon Jackson, Ishank Jaggi, Kuldeep Yadav, Chris Woakes, Chris Lynn, Manish Pandey.

Kings XI Punjab

  • Maxwell has taken six wickets at an economy of 5.92 in their last five games. However, Gautam Gambhir has hit Maxwell for 42 runs from 24 balls.
  • Kings XI’s recent success is due to their bowlers. In the last five games, Sandeep Sharma, Mohit Sharma and Axar Patel have taken 23 wickets with an economy of 7.48 and an average of 16.00.

“We haven’t really won consistently throughout the tournament. We will regroup. Unfortunately, we will lose Hashim and David Miller now.” – Kings XI skipper Glenn Maxwell.

Kings XI Punjab squad: Glenn Maxwell (C), David Miller, Manan Vohra, Hashim Amla, Shaun Marsh, Darren Sammy, Wriddhiman Saha, Nikhil Naik, Ishant Sharma, Armaan Jaffer, Martin Guptill, Eoin Morgan, Rinku Singh, Sandeep Sharma, Arman Jaffer, Anureet Singh, Mohit Sharma, KC Cariappa, Pradeep Sahu, Swapnil Singh, T Natrajan, Matt Henry, Varun Aaron, Axar Patel, Marcus Stoinis, Gurkeerat Mann, Rahul Tewatia.