Dubai: Punjab Kings (PBKS) on Friday won the toss and elected to bowl against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) here at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium in the 45th match of the Indian Premier League (IPL).
Pitch Report: A decent batting surface and there are no demons in the pitch. The strip is hard and batsmen will find it easier to play their shots.
At the toss, KKR skipper Eoin Morgan said, "It will be a challenge, but there's no advantage chasing. The teams that plays well have deserved the points. Two changes for us - one forced, Seifert is in for Lockie, Shivam Mavi replaces Sandeep Warrier. Both Lockie and Russell have been monitored and we'll take a call on them. The wicket doesn't look too bad, we 'll have to adapt to these conditions and play well."
On the other hand, PBKS captain KL Rahul said, "We will bowl first. The wicket has been quite tricky, some days it's 180, some other days it's 150. So it could be tricky to bat first, better for the opposition to set the target. Our bowling group has done well, but the batting hasn't fired, but it's another opportunity for us. Chris Gayle has left the bubble, Fabian Allen is in. Mayank replaces Mandeep and Shahrukh Khan is in."
Teams:
Punjab Kings: KL Rahul(w/c), Mayank Agarwal, Aiden Markram, Nicholas Pooran, Shahrukh Khan, Deepak Hooda, Fabian Allen, Nathan Ellis, Mohammed Shami, Ravi Bishnoi, Arshdeep Singh.
Kolkata Knight Riders: Shubman Gill, Venkatesh Iyer, Rahul Tripathi, Eoin Morgan(c), Nitish Rana, Dinesh Karthik(w), Tim Seifert, Sunil Narine, Shivam Mavi, Tim Southee, Varun Chakaravarthy.
