Cricket News: IPL 2019 Preview - KKR Vs KXIP

Having stolen victories from the jaws of a certain defeat in the death overs in their respective season openers, Kolkata Knight Riders and Kings XI Punjab will now face off at the Eden Gardens today in a bid to build on that momentum. Punjab’s phenomenal come-from-behind win, inspired by their two foreign bowlers, was completely overshadowed by the mankading incident R Ashwin was involved in. But Ashwin & Co. would look to move on and add another away win to their kitty before returning to Mohali for their first home game of the 2019 season over the weekend. Their head to head against the hosts at Eden Gardens is 7-3, but one of those three wins came just last year and was inspired by KL Rahul. The in-form Karnataka batsman may have fallen cheaply in their tournament opener, but with Chris Gayle at his best, and given his track record at Eden, KXIP will throw another massive challenge at KKR's bowlers. On the other hand, against SRH, Andre Russell saved KKR the blushes of a rare opening defeat at home with a blazing 19 ball 49 that turned the game on its head in the final three overs of the evening. But others will also have to chip in as KKR's batting mainstays - Chris Lynn, Robin Uthappa and Dinesh Karthik - all got out to nothing shots in the last game and Russell will not play once in a lifetime knock again and again. Here is the likely playing XI of KKR. Chris Lynn and Nitish Rana opened in the last innings because Sunila Narine injured his hand during fielding. He is expected to open today. Uthappa, Nitish Rana , Shubman Gill and Dinesh Karthik will take of the middle order and of course Andre Russell too while Piyush Chawla, Kuldeep Yadav, Lockie Ferguson will handle the bowling attack. Talking about Kings XI Punjab. Two changes are likely in today’s match. Miller and Andrew Tye should be part of the Eleven. Gayle and Rahul will open. Sarfraz, Miller, Mandeep Singh or Karun Nair will handle the middle order. Shami, Mujeeb and Ankit Rajpoot will again lead their bowling attack along with Andrew Tye.