Gautam Gambhir’s mentorship seems to be working wonders for the KKR team. With 5 wins in 7 matches, the team currently sits in second place in the points table and has the best NRR among all teams. Phil Salt and Sunil Narine have formed an explosive opening pair and given the team a good start. Narine has been the team’s top-performing player this season. While he’s been a bit inconsistent, once he gets going, he’s nearly unstoppable. You can bet on Salt and Narine to deliver in most cases. This makes them very attractive for most runs in the market for the first 6 overs. The middle order boasts some quality players, including Shreyas Iyer, Venkatesh Iyer, and Ankush Raghuvanshi, who can adjust their pace according to the situation. In the lower order, there’s plenty of firepower again with Rinku Singh, Andre Russell, and Ramandeep Singh. In terms of depth in batting, KKR far outstrips PBKS in all aspects. Narine and Russell have also been excellent with the ball, taking 9 wickets each. Mitchell Starc, who is the most expensive player in IPL history, is currently struggling, but the team expects him to find form in the future. Harshith Rana remains a standout bowler for KKR and could be a good option for top bowlers in the KKR market.
The Punjab Kings are currently struggling, entering this battle after 4 consecutive losses. At present, they are in 9th place in the points table, trailing the top four teams by 6 points. Mayank Agarwal’s absence was quite noticeable, and the team hopes that Shikhar Dhawan will recover from his injury before it’s too late. Sam Curran replaced him as captain and in the opening slot but couldn’t match the flamboyant batting of Dhawan. Others, including Prabsimran Singh, Riley Rossouw, Jitesh Sharma, and Liam Livingstone, have also faced difficulties. Nevertheless, the team has a few positives in the form of Shahrukh Khan and Ashutosh Sharma. These two are among the team’s top performers and have made some impressive strikes so far. The bowlers have performed better. Harshal Patel leads the pack with 13 wickets and has received good support from Sam Curran, Kagiso Rabada, and Arshdeep Singh. The spin attack looks a bit weak: Liam Livingstone and Harpreet Brar have only managed to take 4 wickets between them. PBKS is struggling with the absence of senior players’ performances. Perhaps, this disrupts the team’s balance and prevents their key players (Ashutosh Sharma and Shahrukh Khan) from exerting the influence they could otherwise have.
