What

The Kolkata Knight Riders will play their first home fixture of VIVO IPL 2017 when they take on Kings XI Punjab on Thursday evening.

KKR have one win from two outings so far this season. The two-time champions will still be hurting from their narrow defeat to the Mumbai Indians on Sunday night. KKR, after setting a target of 179, had MI on the mat at 119-5. The hosts needed an improbable 64 from the final five overs, yet got past the finish line with one ball to spare.

KKR have themselves to blame; they were guilty of dropping a catch and conceded crucial runs through misfields at important junctures in the match.Chris Lynn, the team’s top run-getter, is unavailable after dislocating his shoulder in the previous match, and that is certainly a huge blow to the team. KKR could therefore revert to the reliable opening pair of Gautam Gambhir and Robin Uthappa, and accommodate the exciting Colin de Grandhomme, who has a T20 batting strike-rate of 171, in the middle order.

Under new captain Glenn Maxwell, KXIP have posted two convincing wins and look a very good unit.
It is perhaps the influence of mentor Virender Sehwag that the KXIP players have expressed themselves without any inhibitions and have executed their skills without any pressure of failure. They were clinical in their season opener against Rising Pune Supergiant, after which they strolled to an eight-wicket win against Royal Challengers Bangalore. The team is operating like a well-oiled unit, with both Indian and overseas players contributing with the bat, while the bowling attack – comprising largely an Indian contingent, has performed admirably in keeping the opponents to modest totals.

When

13 April 2017, 2000 Hrs IST

Where

Eden Gardens, Kolkata

The Protagonists

Among the KKR batsmen, the top three – Gautam Gambhir, Robin Uthappa and Manish Pandey – will have to come up with major contributions. Colin de Grandhomme, if he makes his IPL debut, will one to watch out for too. In T20s in the last five years, no one has scored quicker than the Kiwi 30-year old has; he has scored nearly a thousand runs at a strike-rate of 180.Among the batsmen in the KXIP line-up, Glenn Maxwell, yet to be dismissed in the tournament, is the one to look out for; he has scored 44 and 43 in the two innings so far at a strike-rate in excess of 190 in both those innings.

Match within the match

Glenn Maxwell against the two KKR spinners promises to be an interesting contest; between them, Sunil Narine and Piyush Chawla have dismissed Maxwell on 5 occasions. The KKR spin trio of Narine, Chawla and Kuldeep Yadav will want to exploit Maxwell’s well-documented weakness against spin.

Head to Head

Overall: Matches – 19, Kolkata Knight Riders Won – 13, Kings XI Punjab Won – 6

In Kolkata: Matches – 8, KKR Won – 6, KXIP Won - 2

Trivia

Kings XI Punjab have two wins out of two so far this season; the last time they managed two wins on the bounce was towards the fag end of the 2014 season.

Off Sandeep Sharma’s 57 wickets in the IPL, 28 are of opening batsmen.

What Next

In two days time, on April 15, the Kolkata Knight Riders will play host to the defending champions Sunrisers Hyderabad. Later on the day, Kings XI Punjab will player their away-fixture against the Delhi Daredevils.