KKR look to continue winning run against KXIP (Preview)

Buoyed by their big victory over Mumbai Indians, Kolkata Knight Riders will look to continue the winning momentum in yet another must-win Indian Premier League tie against Kings XI Punjab here on Friday.

KKR snapped a six-game losing streak to record a 34-run victory over Mumbai at Eden Gardens last week to revive their chances of a playoffs berth.

Placed sixth in the points table, KKR are one of the teams in the slugfest for two remaining spots. Chennai Super Kings and Delhi Capitals have already booked their place in the knockout stage.

KKR will take on Mumbai after facing Kings XI in another away game, their last league engagement. The Dinesh-Karthik led side will have to win the those fixtures in order to secure a playoff spot and not depend on any other team. But in Kings XI, they face another side eager to make the grade.

R Ashwin's side are a rung below KKR at seventh and have lost their last three games.

They were washed away by a dominant Sunrisers Hyderabad in their last outing, largely due to David Warner's brilliance and Kings XI bowlers not putting up a good show collectively. It was a rare off day for Afghanistan spinner Mujeeb Ur Rahman as he went for 66 runs.

KL Rahul has been the only in-form batsman for Kings XI with Chris Gayle blowing hot and cold.

For KKR, Chris Lynn and Shubman Gill scored half centuries in their last game and Andre Russell continued his blistering show with the bat after being promoted to No. 3 for the first time this season.

KKR's misfiring bowling arsenal made amends too, with Harry Gurney, Russell and Sunil Narine getting two wickets each.

Kolkata Knight Riders: Dinesh Karthik (captain), Sunil Narine, Andre Russell, Carlos Brathwaite, Joe Denly, Lockie Ferguson, Chris Lynn, Robin Uthappa, Harry Gurnley, Kuldeep Yadav, Piyush Chawla, Nitish Rana, Sandeep Warrier, KC Cariappa, Shubman Gill, Rinku Singh, Shrikant Mundhe, Nikhil Naik, Anrich Nortje, Prithvi Raj, Prasidh Krishna.

Kings XI Punjab: Ravichandran Ashwin, Mayank Agarwal, Arshdeep Singh, Murugan Ashwin, Agnivesh Ayachi, Sam Curran, Chris Gayle, Harpreet Brar, Moises Henriques, Sarfaraz Khan, Mandeep Singh, David Miller, Mohammed Shami, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Karun Nair, Darshan Nalkande, Nicholas Pooran, KL Rahul, Ankit Rajpoot, Simran Singh, Andrew Tye, Varun Chakravarthy, Hardus Viljoen

--IANS

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