Chris Gayle
With the wicket looking dry at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi, Kolkata Knight Riders captain Dinesh Karthik opted to bat first in the IPL 2020 match against Kings XI Punjab. Both sides made just one change in their lineup, although Chris Gayle is yet to make his return in the KXIP playing XI.
"The wicket looks dry so we'll have a bat first. As the tournament progresses we'll get the right batting order, but it worked well in the last game. Mavi has a few niggles so Prasidh comes in for him," Karthik said after winning the toss.
For KXIP, Sheldon Cottrell is missing out on the tie and will likely miss out a more as informed by captain KL Rahul owing to a few niggles. Chris Jordan has replaced him in the lineup. With it being the only change, it also implies that the management still believes that Glenn Maxwell, who has been averaging 18.5 with just two fifties since 2015 in IPL, can still fire.
"We have a lot of experiences like Anil, Andy and Jonty. We have Gayle and Maxi and seniors who have kept it positive. We just haven't turned it around in the big moments that's why we are at the bottom of the table. Jordan comes in for Cottrell, who has a niggle and might miss out on a couple of games," Rahul said.
Kings XI Punjab (Playing XI): KL Rahul(c), Mayank Agarwal, Mandeep Singh, Nicholas Pooran, Simran Singh(w), Glenn Maxwell, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Chris Jordan, Ravi Bishnoi, Mohammed Shami, Arshdeep Singh
Kolkata Knight Riders (Playing XI): Rahul Tripathi, Shubman Gill, Nitish Rana, Sunil Narine, Eoin Morgan, Andre Russell, Dinesh Karthik(w/c), Pat Cummins, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Prasidh Krishna, Varun Chakravarthy
