Kolkata Knight Riders, the two-time champions, will be up against Punjab Kings in the 45th match of the IPL 2021. For KKR, the UAE is turning out to be a happy hunting ground as they have won 3 of their last 4 matches played in the second leg of IPL.

Despite fighting hard till the last ball against Chennai Super Kings, they eventually lost their second last match in the end by 2 wickets. Spirits will be high in the group, as they defeated Delhi Capitals by 3 wickets in their previous match.

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In the points table, they are occupied in the fourth standings.

Unfortunately, for Punjab Kings, the same old story continues this year as well. They are struggling to field their best eleven on the field, which is hurting them big time.

The team also lacked big hitters in the middle overs which hampered their progress in this edition. They lost to Mumbai Indians in their previous encounter by 6 wickets. This match will be a must-win game for them and it will be interesting how they approach this match.

Probable Playing XIs

Kolkata Knight Riders

Shubman Gill, Venkatesh Iyer, Rahul Tripathi, Eoin Morgan (c), Nitish Rana, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Sunil Narine, Tim Southee, Lockie Ferguson, Sandeep Warrier, Varun Chakravarthy

Punjab Kings

Lokesh Rahul (c/wk), Mayank Agarwal / Mandeep Singh, Chris Gayle, Aiden Markram, Nicholas Pooran, Deepak Hooda, Harpreet Brar, Nathan Ellis, Mohammad Shami, Ravi Bishnoi, Arshdeep Singh

Match Details:

Kolkata Knight Riders vs Punjab Kings, Match 45

Venue: Dubai International Cricket Stadium, Dubai

Date and Time: October 1 at 7:30 PM IST

Live Streaming: Star Sports Network and Disney+Hotstar