Indian T20 League 2023

PUN vs KOL, 2nd Match

Preview

Punjab & Kolkata will lock horns for the second match of the Indian T20 League 2023 on Saturday, 1st March. The match is scheduled at the Punjab Cricket Association IS Bindra Stadium in Mohali. 

Veteran Indian batter Shikhar Dhawan will lead the Punjab side this season. He is the 14th skipper of the side since the 2008 season of the league. The Punjab side released a total of nine players before the mini-auction last year including their captain Mayank Agarwal, Odeon Smith and Sandeep Sharma. During the auction, Punjab bought a total of 6 cricketers. They gave away Rs.18.5 crores to rope in Sam Curran to their squad. Curran was the most expensive player in the auction’s history. Punjab will miss the services of Bairstow as his NOC was refused by the England Cricket Council. Also, the Australian T20 League second highest run scorer, Matthew Short, who scored 250 plus runs for his franchise in the 2022-23 season has replaced the Englishmen in the squad.

The Kolkata franchise finished in the seventh position in the last season of the Indian T20 League. After finishing in a disappointing position in the previous season, they would try to capitalise on their mistakes and make them to the top four at the end of the group stage, this season. They announced Nitish Rana as their captain for the time being as Shreyas Iyer has been ruled out of the first few games due to injury. The Kolkata side retained 14 players and released 15 players before the mini-auction. They also traded in Shardul Thakur from the Delhi franchise. Some other players have also made it into the squad like Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Lockie Ferguson from the defending champions Gujarat. Kolkata tried some fancy moves as they roped in David Wiese, Shakib Al Hasan and Litton Das for their base price and only time can say if their decisions are correct. They also bought N Jagadeesan for Rs. 90 lakhs, his performance was quite impressive in the Vijay Hazare trophy, last year. 

Match Details

Match: PUN vs KOL, 2nd Match, IND T20 League 2023

Date: Saturday, April 1, 2023

Time: 03:30 PM

Venue: Punjab Cricket Association IS Bindra Stadium, Mohali

Pitch and Weather Report

Punjab Cricket Association IS Bindra Stadium will host the match. It is the home ground for the Punjab side and the average first innings score for domestic T20s here is 165 runs. A total of six T20 International matches were played here, and the average 1st innings score came out as 185 runs while batting in second place, winning four of the matches. This pitch was the pace bowler’s paradise till the ‘90s. But gradually it has slowed down and now the traits show it’s most favourable for the batters. 

The weather on the matchday is predicted to have a highest of 23 degrees celsius with scattered thunderstorms most likely to interrupt the gameplay. 

PUN vs KOL Squads

PUN: Shikhar Dhawan (c), Matthew Short, Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Liam Livingstone, Shahrukh Khan, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Harpreet Brar, Sam Curran, Kagiso Rabada, Arshdeep Singh, Rahul Chahar

KOL: Mandeep Singh, Venkatesh Iyer, Nitish Rana (c), Shakib Al Hasan, N Jagadeesan (wk), Andre Russell, Rinku Singh, David Wiese, Sunil Narine, Shardul Thakur, Umesh Yadav

PUN vs KOL Probable Playing XIs

PUN: Shikhar Dhawan (c), Prabhsimran Singh (wk), Trevor Bayliss, Brad Haddin, Wasim Jaffer, Charl Langeveldt, Matthew Short, Harpreet Singh Bhatia, Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Shahrukh Khan, Sikandar Raza, Sam Curran, Rishi Dhawan, Harpreet Brar, Rahul Chahar, Arshdeep Singh, Raj Bawa, Nathan Ellis, Baltej Singh, Jitesh Sharma, Atharva Taide, Vidhwath Kaverappa, Mohit Rathee, Shivam Singh

KOL: Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), Nitish Rana (c), Chandrakant Pandit, James Foster, Bharat Arun, Abhishek Nayar, David Hussey, Ryan ten Doeschate, Omkar Salvi, Chris Donaldson, Venkatesh Iyer, Rinku Singh, N Jagadeesan, Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Shardul Thakur, Lockie Ferguson, Varun Chakaravarthy, Umesh Yadav, David Wiese, Mandeep Singh, Anukul Roy, Kulwant Khejroliya, Vaibhav Arora, Harshit Rana, Suyash Sharma

Match Prediction

Despite the fact that Punjab are playing at home, we do not believe they have quite a significant edge. On paper, KKR appears to have a far stronger lineup. They have seasoned players in every category who have been with the franchise for a long time. The batting order is strong, and the bowling attack is diverse. Punjab are without one of their finest batters, and others aren't in top form right now. Overall, Kolkata appears to have the upper hand over the hosts in this match and will begin as underdogs in our match prediction. The results are expected to come in Kolkata's favour for this match. 

Top Fantasy Picks

The Punjab skipper, Shikhar Dhawan is also the highest run-getter for the side, last season. He drafted 460 runs in 14 innings at a strike rate of 122.66 and an average of 38.33. He is also the second-highest run-scorer in the Indian T20 League and is one of the only two players who have crossed the 6000 runs milestone. 

Andre Russell always fascinates fans with his all-round match-winning performances for the Kolkata side, He made 335 runs in 14 games at a strike rate of 174.47 and also picked 17 wickets at an average of 16.35 during the last season of the tournament. 

Sam Curran made his Indian T20 League debut in 2019 for the Punjab side and shattered 10 wickets including a hattrick. He was bought for a whopping Rs. 18.5 crores in the mini-auction and he went on to become the most expensive buy in the league's history. His bidding involved a total of 6 teams and ultimately the Punjab side picked him up. Curran won the Player of the Tournament award with England in the T20 World Championship last year.

Shardul Thakur, the Indian pacer made his Indian T20 League debut in 2015 and Kolkata will be the 5th franchise he will be playing for. He was in the Delhi franchise last season, where he picked 15 wickets in 14 games at an average of 31.53 and an economy of 9.70/

Risky Captaincy Choice

Sikander Raza has been one of the finest T20 players in recent months. In T20Is, he is placed eighth in the World rankings for all-rounders. The 36-year-old all-rounder scored 223 runs in 12 games in the Pakistan T20 League 2023, with a strike rate of 179.83 and an average of 37.16 

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