The Punjab Kings and Kolkata Knight Riders are both facing injury issues and unavailability of foreign players as they prepare to face each other in the 2nd match of IPL 2023 on April 1.
Punjab Kings finished sixth in the last edition of the IPL, while Kolkata Knight Riders ended up in the seventh spot. Both teams have a new captain this season. Punjab Kings will be led by the gabbar Shikhar Dhawan, while domestic star Nitish Rana has replaced the injured Shreyas Iyer as KKR captain.
IPL 2023 PBKS vs KKR: Injury Updates for Today’s Match
Punjab Kings
The absence of Jonny Bairstow will be a huge blow for the Punjab Kings. Bairstow has been ruled out of the entire IPL due to a leg injury he had sustained while playing golf last September. Punjab Kings have named Matthew Short as his replacement who is expected to open the batting alongside Shikar Dhawan.
Apart from Bairstow, another star English player Liam Livingstone will miss today’s match, as he is yet to get clearance from the ECB following a knee injury, and South African Kagiso Rabada will also miss today’s match because of his national commitments.
PBKS squad for IPL 2023:
Shikhar Dhawan (c), Arshdeep Singh, Baltej Singh, Raj Bawa, Rahul Chahar, Sam Curran, Rishi Dhawan, Nathan Ellis, Harpreet Brar, Harpreet Singh, Vidwath Kaverappa, Mohit Rathee, Prabhsimran Singh, Bhanuka Rajapaksa, M Shahrukh Khan, Jitesh Sharma, Shivam Singh, Matthew Short, Sikandar Raza, Atharva Taide.
PBKS have never won the IPL title in the last 15 years. The closest they came was a final appearance in 2014, where they got defeated by KKR and a semi-final defeat against CSK in the inaugural season.
Also Read: Punjab Kings vs Kolkata Knight Riders Match Prediction: Who Will Win the 2nd Match in IPL 2023?
Kolkata Knight Riders
For Kolkata Knight Riders, the absence of their regular skipper and batting mainstay Shreyas Iyer will be a big blow in the IPL 2023. He is almost ruled out of the tournament due to back problem.
Other than Shreyas, the two Bangla players Shakib Al Hasan and Litton Das are also going to miss today’s match due to their national commitments. Even Lockie Ferguson is also doubtful to play today’s match because he has injured his right hamstring last week.
KKR Squad for IPL 2023:
Nitish Rana (c), Vaibhav Arora, Lockie Ferguson, Harshit Rana, Venkatesh Iyer, N Jagadeesan, Kulwant Khejroliya, Liton Das, Mandeep Singh, Sunil Narine, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Anukul Roy, Andre Russell, Shakib Al Hasan, Rinku Singh, Tim Southee, Suyash Sharma, Shardul Thakur, Varun Chakravarthy, David Wiese, Umesh Yadav.
KKR have won two IPL titles in the last 15 years. Recently, in IPL 2021 they played a final against CSK, where they emerged as the runner-ups of the same session.
Both teams will be hoping to put their best foot forward and shed their inconsistent past in the IPL 2023 as the match starts at 3:30PM IST.