KKR vs PBKS IPL 2023 highlights: Kolkata Knight Riders defeat Punjab Kings by five wickets

A heroic effort from Andre Russell helped KKR to claim a very important five wicket victory over Punjab Kings in IPL 2023.

Nitish Rana scored a half-century off 37 balls for Kolkata Knight Riders. However, he was dismissed on the next ball by Rahul Chahar.

Rahul Chahar dismissed Venkatesh Iyer for 11 off 13 balls. KKR 115/3 in 13.4 Overs.

Nathan Ellis dismissed Rahmanullah Gurbaz for 15 off 12 balls. Kolkata 38/1 in 4.4 Overs.

Harpreet Brar dismissed Jason Roy for 38 off 24 balls. Punjab Kings 64/2 in 7.2 Overs.

Harshit Rana conceded 21 runs in the last over as Punjab amassed a whopping 179 runs at Eden Gardens

Varun Chakravarthy dismissed Rishi Dhawan for 19 off 11 balls. Punjab Kings 139/6 in 17 overs.

Suyash Sharma dismissed Sam Curran for 4 off 9 balls. Punjab Kings 139/7 in 17.2 Overs.

Nitish Rana dismissed Shikhar Dhawan for 57 off 47 balls. Punjab Kings  119/5 in 14.4 Overs.

Jitesh Sharma has been dismissed by Varun Chakravarthy for 21 off 18 balls. Punjab 106/4 in 12.3 Overs.

Varun Chakravarthy removes the dangerous Liam Livingstone as Punjab Kings are struggling. PBKS 53/3 in 5.3 overs

Harshit Rana dismissed Bhanuka Rajapaksa for a duck to pick up his 2nd wicket of the match. Punjab Kings 29/2 in 3.4 Overs.

Harshit Rana dismissed Prabhsimran Singh for 12 off 8 balls. Punjab Kings 21/1 in 2 Overs.

Prabhsimran Singh and Shikhar Dhawan opened the batting for Punjab Kings. Vaibhav Arora took the new ball for Kolkata.

Prabhsimran Singh scored a boundary on the second ball of the opening over to open his account. 

Punjab Kings: Nathan Ellis, Sikandar Raza, Atharva Taide, Matthew Short, Mohit Rathee

Kolkata Knight Riders: Anukul Roy, N Jagadeesan, Jason Roy, Khejroliya, Lockie Ferguson

Kolkata Knight Riders: Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), Venkatesh Iyer, Nitish Rana (c), Rinku Singh, Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Shardul Thakur, Vaibhav Arora, Harshit Rana, Suyash Sharma, Varun Chakaravarthy

Punjab Kings: Prabhsimran Singh, Shikhar Dhawan (c), Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Liam Livingstone, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Sam Curran, Shahrukh Khan, Harpreet Brar, Rishi Dhawan, Rahul Chahar, Arshdeep Singh

Punjab Kings won the toss and elected to bat first against Kolkata Knight Riders. 

If Kolkata Knight Riders go down against Punjab Kings, it will end their hopes of qualifying for the IPL 2023 playoffs. 

After Litton Das pulled out of the ongoing IPL, Kolkata Knight Riders have a new signing in Johnson Charles who hails from West Indies. With the playoff spots still in contention, Kolkata Knight Riders might rope in Charles in today's match

Punjab Kings Probable XI:  Prabhsimran Singh, Shikhar Dhawan (c), Matthew Short, Liam Livingstone, Jitesh Sharma(wk), Sam Curran, Shahrukh Khan, Harpreet Brar, Rishi Dhawan, Rahul Chahar, Arshdeep Singh

Kolkata Knight Riders: Suyash Sharma, Anukul Roy, Narayan Jagadeesan, Lockie Ferguson, Kulwant Khejroliya

Punjab Kings: M Rathee, S Singh, A Taide, Sikandar Raza, N Ellis

 Average First Innings score in Kolkata: 165

Matches Played: 81

Matches Won Batting First: 34

Matches Won Batting Second: 47

Punjab Kings till now have had a bitter-and-sweet campaign in the Indian Premier League 2023 and are currently placed at seventh place in the IPL 2023 points table. Kings at least need to win three of their remaining four matches if they want to keep their fortunes in their hands to qualify for the tournament playoffs. 

The Kolkata Knight Riders vs Punjab Kings match start may get delayed due to rain as there have been patchy clouds in the sky for the past few weeks. However, the weather is expected to remain hot and humid. 

The IPL 2023 point table didn't see much changes after Rajasthan Royals' loss over Sunrisers Hyderabad and they remain in fourth place with ten points from eleven matches. SRH on the other hand swapped places from Delhi Capitals and is now placed at number nine with four wins from eleven games and also having a better net run rate. Gujarat Titans, Chennai Super Kings, and Lucknow Super Giants are placed in the number one, two, and three positions with 16, 13, and 11 points respectively from eleven matches. 

The Eden Gardens pitch in Kolkata is often known to be useful for the spinners and the ground has also produced many high-scoring encounters. The KKR vs PBKS match can turn out to be yet another high-scoring encounter. 

A look at Kolkata Knight Riders IPL 2023 Qualification Scenario: KKR are currently placed in the eighth spot in the points table and have won four out of the ten matches they have played so far in the tournament. The team will have to win the remaining of their four matches if they want to keep their fortunes in their hands. 

The Punjab Kings are coming off a defeat against the Mumbai Indians and would like to get back to winning ways against the Kolkata Knight Riders. 

The Kolkata Knight Riders are coming off a win against the Sunrisers Hyderabad from their last match and will be looking to continue their winning momentum against Punjab Kings. 

As the Punjab Kings and Kolkata Knight Riders will take on each other at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata we can expect yet another thriller in the Indian Premier League 2023. Any result in the match is possible as both the teams have very strong and balanced squads. 

Nitish Rana-led Kolkata Knight Riders and Shikhar Dhawan's Punjab Kings are all set to take on each other in match 53 of the Indian Premier League 2023 at the Eden Gardens ground in Kolkata. 

Nitish Rana-led Kolkata Knight Riders and Shikhar Dhawan's Punjab Kings are up against each other in Match 53 of IPL 2023. Seeing the squads and form of both the teams it is very difficult to say who wins the match in Kolkata. 

In match 51 played between Gujarat Titans and Lucknow Super Giants at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad, it was the Titans who emerged victorious by 56 runs. 

In match 52 played between Sunrisers Hyderabad and Rajasthan Royals at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur, it was the Sunrisers who emerged victorious by 4 wickets.