FOUR! Head over the ball, full face of the bat and as straight as an arrow. This was an inch-perfect straight drive from the Punjab skipper

SIX! 2nd boundary of the over and a second stunning shot. Into the slot and plays with the swing. Mayank clobbers goes inside out and clobbers the ball over long off for six.

PBKS ARE 25/0 AFTER 3 OVERS.

IN THE AIR…STILL IN THE AIR… AND…FOUR! Inswinger from Mavi and pitches on length. Agarwal goes down the ground with a lofted straight drive. The bat turned in his hands and the ball was in the air for ages but it had enough legs in it to trickle to the boundary.

PBKS are 13/0 after 2 overs.

FOUR! That is hammered through covers for four! Overpitched outside off and Mayank is too good a batsman to miss out on such gifts

PBKS are 7/0 after 1 over

Out come the PBKS openers 

Mayank is back and he is out to open with KL Rahul

Tim Southee with the new ball

V IYER – 67 OFF 49

TRIPATHI 34 OFF 26

RANA- 31 OFF 18

====

ARSHDEEP- 3/32 IN 4 OVERS

SHAMI- 1-23 IN 4 OVERS

Punjab Kings need 166 to win from 120 balls

ARSDHEEP TO BOWL THE FINAL OVER. Narine and Karthik in the middle.

19.1 2 RUNS

19.2 1 RUN

19.3 2 RUNS

19.4 1 RUN

19.5 1 RUN

19.6 BOWLED HIM! Cleans up DK on the final ball of the innings.

KOLKATA KNIGHT RIDERS FINISH AT 165/7 AFTER 20 OVERS.

WHAT A TERRIFIC LAST OVER. 7 OFF IT AN A WICKET

DIRECT HIT! GONE! Shami had missed one earlier and conceded an extra run. This time, he nails the direct hit. 

Seifert is well short! His debut innings ends on 2.

KKR are 156/6 after 18.4 overs.

Just 7 off it. 

KKR are 158/6 after 19 overs. He ends with 1-23 in 4 overs

SIX! WHAT A SHOT! Nitish Rana is turning it on in Dubai, welcomes Arshdeep back into the attack with six. Anticipates a delivery wide of off so he steps to the off stump and then goes over extra cover for a massive six! What a shot!

OUT! RANA HOLES OUT! Just as he had started dealing in boundaries, he is caught on 31 at deep mid-wicket. 

KKR are 149/4 after 17.4 overs.

Tim Seifert is the new man in

SIX! Back of the hand delivery from Ellis. Pitched it right in the slot. Rana goes down the track and clobbers the ball over the bowler’s head for six!

KKR are 137/4 after 17 overs.

OUT! KKR HAVE NOW LOST 3 WICKETS IN THE LAST 5 OVERS. Torrid shot selection but great execution from Shami. Moves across and looks to exploit the area behind square on the leg but Shami pitches it full and catches him LBW. Plumb that was.

4 off it. KKR are 125/4 after 16 overs.

Dinesh Karthik is the new man in

OUT! Ravi Bishnoi ends V. Iyer’s onslaught on 67. He shuffles across to the off stump and slaps the ball flat off the sweep shot but finds the fielder at deep mid-wicket.

KKR are 120/23 after 14.4 overs

Eoin Morgan walks in next.

FOUR! Nitish Rana gets into the act Pulls out the reverse sweep of short third man for 4!

FOUR! He can hit you hard and he can also play cheeky shots. Picks Ellis’ off cutter and scoops the ball over fine leg!

FOUR! Now he shows power. Clobbers the ball through extra cover for 4!

FIFTY! Venkatesh Iyer picks up a single to bring up his second fifty in IPL in just 5 matches. Well played, young man!

SIX AND 100 FOR KKR! Pitched full and straight and Iyer tonks Allen for a massive six with a pick-up shot. Highest IPL score for V. Iyer now

104/2 AFTER 13 OVERS.

OUT! Ravi Bishnoi breaks the dangerous stand and gets the much-needed breakthrough. Tripathi’s gone for 34 off 26 balls. He goes for a huge slog sweep to the longest side of the field and holes out to Deepak Hooda at deep mid-wicket Nitish Rana is the new man in.

KKR are 90/2 after 11.3 overs

FOUR! That’s just a terrific shot. Nothing wrong with the delivery. Tripathi waits, opens the face of the bat on the last second and hits it past the backward point fielder for 4.

FOUR! A gift and Tripathi obliges. Smacks the ball through the off side for 4!

KKR ARE 88/1 AFTER 10 OVERS

SIX! That’s clobbered from Tripathi. He’s just not going to stand and Iyer take the PBKS bowlers to the cleaners, will he. Gets down on one knee and deposits the ball into the stands over deep mid-wicket with a slog sweep.

KKR are 73/1 after 9 overs

Leg-spinner Ravi Bishnoi is introduced into the attack.

FOUR! A late cute past point and third man for four. Picked up the googly early

KKR are 63/1 after 8 overs.

FOUR! Iyer makes you says stuff like that time and again.  Short from Allen, and Iyer hops onto the backfoot and swivels the pull shot wide of mid-wicket

KKR are 55/1 after 7 over.

FOUR! A poor misfield from Bishnoi at mid-off and Iyer picks up 4

FOUR! This time, he finds a boundary through deep mid-wicket.

KKR ARE 48/1 AFTER 6 OVERS

FOUR! The margin for error against Iyer is just too small. Pitched on length but Arshdeep strays it on Iyer’s pads, and since the fine leg fielder was inside the circle, it allowed Iyer to clips the ball past him for four.

KKR ARE 37/1 AFTER 5 OVERS

JUST SHORT! Iyer backs away, makes room, and goes down on one knee four a lofted drive behind point. The ball falls just short of the fielder in the deep

FOUR! Streaky but he’ll take it. Shami digs it short and rushes Tripathi into the pull shot, who clears the mid-on fielder just enough to collect 4

KKR are 30-1 after 4 overs.

As expected, Arshdeep Singh has been introduced.

BEATEN! Gill goes for the cover drive and the ball whizzes past the outside edge. 

BOWLED HIM! AND HE STRIKES! The ball jags back in from length. Gill was late on the front-foot defenceand the ball clips the off stump through the bat-pad gap. He’s gone for run-a-ball 7. 

KKR are 18/1 after 2.2 overs.

Rahul Tripathi is the new man in.

Mohammed Shami is sharing the new ball.

FOUR! Gill scores his first boundary by smashing the ball between mid-off and extra cover. He dances down the track, makes room and collects four. 

KKR are 17/2 after 2 overs.

FOUR! Helmet-less Iyer gets off the mark with a boundary on the first ball. Full and straight from Allen and Iyer flicks the ball off his pads for a four through deep square leg.

FOUR! He started the 1st over with a 4 and he’s ended it with a 4. Just outside off, Iyer muscles the ball through extra cover for four.

KKR ARE 10/0 AFTER 1 OVER

Shubman Gill and Venkatesh Iyer have walked out to open for KKR.

Fabian Allen to open PBKS’ attack.

The two on-field players lead out the KKR openers and the PBKS side.

Some really exciting changes made by both teams. This promises to be a cracker. Hope you’ve got snacks sorted. Fasten your seatbelts. We are about to begin very soon

“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, replacing Hardeep Brar”

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, Nitish Rana, Eoin Morgan, Dinesh Karthik, Tim Seifert, Sunil Narine, Shivam Mavi, Tim Southee, Varun Chakravarthy

Punjab Kings: Chris Gayle, Mandeep Singh, and Harpreet Brar miss out. | Fabian, Mayank and Shahrukh come in.

Kolkata Knight Riders: Lockie Ferguson, Sandeep Warrier miss out | Shivam Mavi, Tim Seifert come in

KL Rahul, skipper of Punjab Kings, has won the toss and elected to bowl.

In three minutes time, we will have the coin toss. Which team and captain will the coin favour today?

“Yes, all fitness issues are resolved. Just had a stiff neck in the last game, so I had to miss out. We all know Gayle is a big player, big presence but we respect the decision he’s taken and back him 100 percent. A lot of credit should go to them (bowlers), the way they have stood up and performed for us, they have really worked hard and it is paying off. Credit to them for the effort they put in and the courage they show in executing their skills. The situation we are in, we have to fight and fight hard, just talking in the dressing room will not help but we have to go out in the middle and execute. That’s what I think we need to do, we need to find ways (to win), play hard and keep fighting.”

“It’s the same surface that we played two nights ago and it looks magnificent. The ground staff have done a terrific job, nice grass covering and the surface is very hard. Three times the team batting first have won, three times the team bowling first has won. The average score is 159, there are no demons and the batters can trust this surface. From a bowling point of view, you have to get your length right”

-Kevin Pietersen and Simon Doull on Star Sports

“My life has been the same since the IPL, we are Punjabis and enjoy life. I am enjoying the opportunities and the challenges that I am faced with. It would have been nicer had the results been in our favour. We are just not able to finish games. We play well for 30-35 overs but we haven’t been able to kill games. We aren’t discussing the qualification, and are taking it one match at a time by giving our 100%. The West Indian culture is also similar to the Punjabi culture, and they also enjoy life, which is why the bubble life hasn’t been boring.

[KKR | PBKS]

Top run-scorers: Andre Russell – 261 Runs | KL Rahul – 250 Runs

Highest score in an innings: 75 By Sunil Narine On May 12, 2018 | 74 By KL Rahul On Oct 10, 2020

Most wickets: Sunil Narine – 30 Wickets | Mohammed Shami – 7 Wickets

BBM: 5/19 By Sunil Narine On Apr 15, 2012 | 3/35 By Mohammed Shami On Oct 26, 2020

“With the position we were at the end of the first half, it was important that we regroup. I don’t think we clicked the way we wanted in the first half, but we’re doing so here. Hopefully, we will continue playing in this way and win more games. My batting has been good, but I need to convert the starts into bigger knocks. but it does happen in T20s. At the moment I’m happy with the way I’m batting. We are giving good starts for the team at the top of the order. We got a lot of confidence after getting a team like RCB all-out for a small score and then the way we chased it down. I think we’re doing well in all the three departments of the game.”

KL Rahul (c), Mayank Agarwal, Aiden Markram, Nicholas Pooran, Shahrukh Khan, Harpreet Brar, Moises Henriques, Nathan Ellis, Mohammed Shami, Arshdeep Singh, Ravi Bishnoi

Shubman Gill, Venkatesh Iyer, Rahul Tripathi, Nitish Rana, Eoin Morgan (C), Dinesh Karthik (wk), Sunil Narine, Varun Chakravarthy, Andre Russell / Tim Southee, Sandeep Warrier, Lockie Ferguson

KL Rahul(w/c), Mandeep Singh, Chris Gayle, Aiden Markram, Nicholas Pooran, Deepak Hooda, Harpreet Brar, Nathan Ellis, Mohammed Shami, Ravi Bishnoi, Arshdeep Singh, Mayank Agarwal, Moises Henriques, Adil Rashid, Chris Jordan, Jalaj Saxena, Murugan Ashwin, Sarfaraz Khan, Fabian Allen, Shahrukh Khan, Saurabh Kumar, Ishan Porel, Utkarsh Singh, Darshan Nalkande, Prabhsimran Singh

Shubman Gill, Venkatesh Iyer, Rahul Tripathi, Eoin Morgan(c), Nitish Rana, Dinesh Karthik(w), Sunil Narine, Tim Southee, Lockie Ferguson, Sandeep Warrier, Varun Chakaravarthy, Prasidh Krishna, Andre Russell, Harbhajan Singh, Shakib Al Hasan, Ben Cutting, Karun Nair, Pawan Negi, Kuldeep Yadav, Gurkeerat Singh Mann, Sheldon Jackson, Tim Seifert, Rinku Singh, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Shivam Mavi, Vaibhav Arora

KKR won by 5 wickets(IPL 2021, Match 21)

PBKS won by 8 wickets (IPL 2020, Match 46)

KKR won by 2 runs (IPL 2020, Match 24)

KKR won by 7 wickets (IPL 2019, Match 52)

KKR won by 8 runs (IPL 2019, Match 6)

vs MI: Lost by 6 wicekts

vs SRH: Won by 5 runs

vs RR: Lost by 2 runs

vs DC: Lost by 7 wickets

vs RCB: Won by 34 runs

vs DC: Won by 3 wickets

vs CSK: Lost by 2 wickets

vs MI: Won by 7 wickets

vs RCB: Won by 9 wickets

vs DC: Lost by 7 wickets

Highest Total Chased: 201 On Apr 04, 2010

Lowest Total Defended: 132 On Apr 26, 2014

Highest Total Chased: 200 On Jun 01, 2014 

Lowest Total Defended: 163 On May 28, 2014

The last time these teams met, KKR romped home to a five-wicket win. Courtesy of a three-wicket haul from Prasidh Krishna and two wickets each for Sunil Narine and Pat Cummins, PBKS were restricted to 123/9 in 20 overs. In response, Rahul Tripathi’s 41 and Morgan’s unbeaten helped guided KKR to the win.

KKR vs PBKS means two excellent white-ball players come face to face. KKR captain Morgan and PBKS skipper Rahul continue to remain a key part of their respective batting units. While Rahul has spearheaded the charge with 422 runs in 10 matches, Morgan has struggled; scoring just 107 in 11 matches

While Kolkata Knight Riders are barely holding a place in thetop half of the table, Punjab Kings are currently placed in the bottom half of the table.

KKR- 4th position (P-11 | W-5 | L-6 | Points-10)

PBKS- 6th position (P-11 | W-4 | L-7 | Points-8)

The Kolkata Knight Riders and Punjab Kings have faced each other 28 times in the IPL and the KKR have dominated the overall head-to-head with 19 wins as opposed to PBKS’ 9. 

Hello and welcome to the live coverage of match 45 of IPL 2021 between Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and Punjab Kings (PBKS) being played at the Dubai International Stadium in the UAE. Eoin’s Morgan Kolkata would riding high on confidence after beating a strong Delhi Capitals (DC) side in their previous outing. On the other hand, KL Rahul’s Punjab have been hit by their inconsistency and in order to strengthen their bid for a top-4 finish, they must get back to winning ways. The time is running out thick and fast but irrespective of whatever happens, you all, my lovely viewers, are bound to be entertained. So, fasten your seatbelts, sit back and enjoy the action!