Key match-ups, analysis, form, team news, weather forecast, tickets, TV and streaming information, odds, predictions and more ahead of the latest encounter in the 2023 IPL
Punjab Kings take on the Kolkata Knight Riders in the Indian Premier League.
The match will be played Saturday, April 1 with play starting at 3.30pm local time (11am GMT).
The match will be played at the Punjab Cricket Association Stadium in Mohali.
Punjab Kings will be coming into this new season with hopes of qualifying for the playoffs for the first time since 2014. Under the new leadership of Shikhar Dhawan, the Kings will hope to take inspiration from their top-scorer of last season (460 runs in 14 innings, striking at 122.66).
Kolkata Knight Riders have only reached the playoffs once in the last four seasons, After finishing seventh last season, they will need their core of Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Tim Southee and Venkatesh Iyer to shine to have a better run this time around. Russell took 16 wickets with an economy of 9.86 last year and contributed 335 runs at 174.47.
Punjab Kings have had to deal with a major problem, with Jonny Bairstow being ruled out as he recovers from a broken leg. Matt Short enjoyed an excellent Big Bash and could be thrown to the wolves alongside Dhawan. He will need to perform immediately.
Kolkata Knight Riders are depleted squad in the first game this season, with captain Shreyas Iyer ruled out with a back injury and two players away on international duty (Shakib Al Hasan and Litton Das).
The battle of the allrounders feels critical in this one: Sam Curran v Andre Russell.
Russell is among the fiercest ball strikers in the game, while Curran has been making a happy habit of claiming wickets in the powerplay for England.
Each is pretty useful at their other disciplines, too.
Whichever has the better day could well swing this for their team.
Matches played: 30
Kolkata Knight Riders wins: 20
Punjab Kings wins: 10
Scattered thunderstorms could haunt Mohali, with top temperatures of 22 degrees Celsius.
Punjab Kings squad: Shikhar Dhawan, Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Jitesh Sharma, Matthew Short, Prabhsimran, Atharva Taide, Harpreet Brar, Liam Livingstone, Raj Angad Bawa, Rishi Dhawan, Shahrukh Khan, Arshdeep Singh, Baltej Dhanda, Kagiso Rabada, Nathan Ellis, Rahul Chahar, Sam Curran, Sikandar Raza, Harpreet Bhatia, Vidwath Kaverappa, Mohit Rathee and Shivam Singh
Kolkata Knight Riders: Nitish Rana, Rinku Singh, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, David Wiese, Kulwant Khejroliya, Suyash Sharma, Shreyas Iyer, Anukul Roy, Lockie Ferguson, Andre Russel, Tim Southee, Shardul Thakur, Sunil Narine, Vaibhav Arora, Varun Chakaravarthy, Narayan Jagadeesan, Litton Das, Venkatesh Iyer, Umesh Yadav, Harshit Rana, Mandeep Singh and Shakib Al Hasan
Punjab Kings: Dhawan, Short, Singh, Rajapaksa, Khan, Curran, Sharma, Dharwan, Singh, Chahar, Kaverappa
Kolkata Knight Riders: Jagadeesan, Gurbaz, Rana, Singh, V. Iyer, Russell, Thakur, Narine, Yadav, Ferguson, Chakaravarthy
The bookies make the Punjab Kings the slight favourites with odds of 5/6 while the Knight Riders are 42/41 to win.
At the start of the season there will be hopes for both sides. We're plumping for a Punjab Kings win.
In the UK you can watch the game on Sky Sports and DAZN.
In India you will be able to watch it on Star Sports.
In Australia you can watch it on Disney+ Hotstar.
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