PBKS vs KKR Playing 11: Will Shikhar’s Lions or Rana’s Knights win? Know how will be the playing 11 of Punjab and KKR – pbks vs kkr probable playing 11 today match

Mohali: Troubled by injury and unavailability of some foreign players, Punjab Kings and Kolkata Knight Riders are going to play their first match of IPL 2023 today i.e. on Saturday. When Punjab and Kolkata take the field for the match today, all eyes will be on the new captains of both the teams. Both these teams have always had strong players in the IPL but their performance on the field has not been that impressive. Punjab are still waiting for their first title while KKR have been champions twice under the leadership of Gautam Gambhir. Last season, Punjab was sixth and KKR seventh in the 10-team competition. This season both the teams will be led by new captains. While the experienced Shikhar Dhawan will lead Punjab, KKR have relied on domestic star Nitish Rana to replace the injured Shreyas Iyer.Punjab team stronger than KKR on paper

On paper, the Punjab team looks a bit stronger than KKR, which will also have the advantage of the home ground. However, the team will miss Johnny Bairstow of England. Bairstow is out of the league due to injury. The franchise has included Matthew Short, the player of the season in the Big Bash League, in his place. It is expected that this Australian batsman will open the innings with Dhawan. Kolkata, on the other hand, will rely heavily on their coach Chandrakant Pandit, who is a masterful strategist and in the absence of regular skipper Iyer, it will be up to Rana to execute his plans. Although the top-order batting is a matter of concern for the team, they have a strong bowling unit.

Will Punjab’s dream of winning the IPL trophy be fulfilled under Gabbar’s captaincy?

Potential playing XI of both the teams

Kolkata Knight Riders: N Jagadishan, Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), Venkatesh Iyer, Nitish Rana (c), Rinku Singh, Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Shardul Thakur, Lockie Ferguson, Umesh Yadav and Varun Chakraborty.

Impact Player: David Weiss, Suyyash Sharma, Mandeep Singh

Punjab Kings: Shikhar Dhawan (Captain), Matthew Short, Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Jitesh Sharma (Wicketkeeper), Sikandar Raza, Shah Rukh Khan, Sam Karan, Rishi Dhawan, Harpreet Brar, Rahul Chahar and Arshdeep Singh.

Impact Player: Atharva Tyde, Nathan Ellis, PrabhSimran Singh
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