IPL 2017: Umesh boost for KKR against in-form KXIP

NEW DELHI: With two wins from two games, Kings XI Punjab sit pretty at the top half of the table and heading in to their third game of the season – their first away game - against Kolkata Knight Riders, KXIP will be aiming for a hat-trick of wins on Thursday. But a win against KKR at Eden Gardens will not be easy. After their shock defeat at the hands of Mumbai Indians, KKR will be looking to get their campaign back on track and prove that what happened against Mumbai was an aberration.
Under Glenn Maxwell, KXIP have so far performed well both with the bat and the ball while KKR, despite their bowling prowess, have went on to concede over 180 runs in both of their previous matches. KXIP will be banking on their bowlers to restrict the aggressive KKR batting unit. Maxwell had used left-arm spinner Akshar Patel first up to surprise RCB skipper Shane Watson in their previous game while Sandeep Sharma has taken wickets early in his spell. Against KKR, Maxwell might not be inclined to experiment early but one cannot rule out what the Australian may come up with on the field.
Venue: Eden Gardens, Kolkata
Date: April 14, 2017
Time: 20:00 IST
Weather: A warm evening with temperatures in the high 30s.
Team News:
KKR
KKR are boosted by the return of Umesh Yadav, menaing Ankit Rajpoot will most likely make way for the Indian pacer. But the worrying factor for the team is injury to Chris Lynn. Lynn was in a devastating form during KKR’s opening game but a shoulder injury has put the Australian’s IPL campaign on hold. Coach Jacques Kallis has stated that Lynn would need time to recover and that would been Robin Uthappa moving up to his preferred opener’s slot. KKR have an able replacement in West Indian Rovman Powell, but it will be interesting see whether Gambhir and the management opt for the rookie Powell or go for an experienced hand in the middle-order in Daren Bravo. They also have the option of adding New Zealand allrounder Colin de Grandhomme, who boasts of a T20 career strike-rate of 171.04.
Probable XI: 1 Gautam Gambhir (capt), 2 Robin Uthappa (wk), 3 Rovman Powell, 4 Manish Pandey, 5 Yusuf Pathan, 6 Suryakumar Yadav, 7 Chris Woakes, 8 Sunil Narine, 9 Kuldeep Yadav, 11 Umesh Yadav, Trent Boult
KXIP
Two wins, two games. What's the need to change?
Probable XI: 1 Manan Vohra, 2 Hashim Amla, 3 Akshar Patel, 4 Glenn Maxwell, 5 Wriddhiman Saha (wk), 6 David Miller, 7 Marcus Stoinis, 8 Mohit Sharma, 9 Sandeep Sharma, 10 Varun Aaron, 11 T Natarajan
7-12
Stats
KKR’s Chris Lynn leads the batting charts for this season with 125 runs in two innings
KXIP have two bowlers with economy of under six for this season – Akshar Patel (4.87) and Varun Aaron (5.25)
Head to Head record: 12-7
Quotes
“We are awaiting the results of the scans to Chris Lynn's shoulder which he dislocated on the field”, KKR coach Jacques Kallis