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The much-awaited Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 went underway on Friday (March 31) as Chennai Super Kings (CSK) faced Gujarat Titans (GT) in the opening game of the tournament.
The second match of the 16th IPL will take place on Saturday (April 1), with Punjab Kings (PBKS) squaring off against Delhi Capitals (DC) at the Punjab Cricket Association IS Bindra Stadium in Mohali.
While the Mohali-based team will be led by their new skipper Shikhar Dhawan, KKR will be captained by Nitish Rana, who has been named the side’s skipper in the absence of injured Shreyas Iyer. Both KKR and PBKS did not have a great last season failing to make it to the playoffs and hence will look to start the IPL 2023 with a win.
Pitch report:
The track at the Punjab Cricket Association IS Bindra Stadium tends to help pacers more as compared to batters, and the spinners also come into play as the game progresses. The venue has hosted 56 games so far, out of which 32 have been won by the team batting second.
Head-to-head record:
Played: 30 | PBKS won: 10 | KKR won: 20 | No result: 0
Probable XIs:
Punjab Kings: Shikhar Dhawan (c), Prabhsimran Singh, Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Liam Livingstone, Shahrukh Khan, Jitesh Sharma (WK), Rishi Dhawan, Sam Curran, Kagiso Rabada, Arshdeep Singh, Rahul Chahar.
Kolkata Knight Riders: Litton Das, Venkatesh Iyer, Nitish Rana (c), Rinku Singh, Narayan Jagadeesan, Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Varun Chakraborty, Shardul Thakur, Umesh Yadav, Lockie Ferguson
Match Prediction:
Case 1:
- PBKS wins the toss and bowls first
- Powerplay score: 45-55
- KKR total: 165-170
Case 2:
- KKR wins the toss and bowls first
- Powerplay score: 40-50
- PBKS total: 155-165
Team bowling first to win the contest.
