Match 44 of the 2025 Indian Premier League season brings us a clash between the Kolkata Knight Riders and the Punjab Kings at Eden Gardens in Kolkata on April 26.
For the game, here are our preview and predictions.
Indian Premier League 2025 | Match 44: Kolkata Knight Riders vs Punjab Kings | 19:30 IST, April 26
Last year’s IPL-winning captain returns to his former home for the first time since joining the Kings, having already beaten the Knight Riders earlier in the season.
The defending champions and hosts have been on a horror run. With none of their departments working, it looks like the wheels are coming off for Ajinkya Rahane and Co.
To mix things up with the bat, KKR brought in Rahmanullah Gurbaz in place of the experienced Quinton de Kock for the last game, but it didn’t work as Gurbaz went back to the pavilion early on. Their batting has little variety, and with Andre Russell looking past his prime and Rinku Singh struggling as well, there is a lack of depth down the order. Barring captain Rahane and young Angkrish Raghuvanshi, no other KKR batter has been in form this season.
KKR’s bowling, which stunned PBKS in the reverse fixture, was once again ordinary at home against the Gujarat Titans. They’ve been missing that X-factor, and with Varun Chakravarthy and Sunil Narine not being on song every game, the team have had nowhere else to turn.
The Kings, on the other hand, have been on an upward trajectory. They have won three out of their last five games, with their bowlers in particular showing good form. Yuzvendra Chahal has found his mojo back, with Arshdeep Singh, Marco Jansen, and Xavier Bartlett being economical at the top. On an Eden Gardens pitch that has some support for seamers early on, the PBKS pace attack should be able to cause the hosts a fair bit of trouble.
Batting is a bit of a worry for PBKS, however, with their batters struggling with consistency. They have been too dependent on their top three batters—Priyansh Arya, Prabhsimran Singh, and Shreyas Iyer—with the likes of Marcus Stoinis and Glenn Maxwell yet to put up substantial numbers in the middle. Nehal Wadhera has been a positive for the Kings, though, and against a struggling KKR bowling attack Iyer will hope his batters have a better outing.
The Eden Gardens pitch has shown it has got very little for the bowlers, with only the seamers finding some purchase early on. We should be in for a high-scoring game, as we back the Shreyas Iyer–led Kings to beat the woefully out-of-form Knight Riders.
Fantasy XI: Sunil Narine, Priyansh Arya, Prabhsimran Singh, Ajinkya Rahane, Shreyas Iyer, Andre Russell, Moeen Ali, Varun Chakravarthy, Arshdeep Singh, Yuzvendra Chahal, Marco Jansen
Venue: Eden Gardens, Kolkata
Winners Prediction: Punjab Kings
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