IPL 2023: Injury-hit KKR, PBKS look to make positive start to IPL 2023

Plagued by injuries and unavailability of a few foreign players both Punjab Kings and Kolkata Knight Riders would still look to put their best foot forward as they lock horns in their opening IPL encounter here on SaturdayThese are the two franchises which over the years have flattered to deceive Inconsistency in team selections seemed to have also affected the them badlyWhile PBKS finished sixth twotime champions KKR ended a rung below in the seventh spot in the 10team competition last yearBoth teams will be led by new skippers this season While veteran Shikhar Dhawan will be at the helm of Punjab domestic star Nitish Rana has replaced injured Shreyas Iyer as KKR captainOn paper though PBKS looks a tad more stronger than KKR But Englishman Jonny Bairstows absence will certainly leave a big void in Punjabs team compositionBairstow has been ruled out of the entire IPL as he continues to recover from a leg injury he had sustained while playing golf last SeptemberIn Bairstows place PBKS has roped in BBLs playerofthetournament this season Matthew Short who is expected to open the batting along side DhawanOther key PBKS players who will miss Saturdays game are hardhitting allrounder Liam Livingstone who is yet to get clearance from the ECB following a knee injury and South African Kagiso Rabada who is on national dutyAlso readIPL 2023 Nitish Rana to lead KKR in place of injured IyerPBKS squad is stacked with allrounders the most lethal among them being USD 2 million plus buy Sam Curran who is more than handy with the bat and is a very fine death bowlerZimbabwes Sikandar Raza is another utility allrounder PBKS could bank uponBut they would depend on Dhawan and Short to provide consistency at the top On the bowling front PBKS would miss Rabada on Saturday and in his absence the onus would be on Arshdeep Singh old guard Rishi Dhawan Curran and legspinner Rahul Chahar to do the jobThe Mohalibased outfit would also rely on coach Trevor Bayliss tactical nous to shed their tag of perennial underachievers during the seasonPBKS has never won the IPL title in the last 15 years The closest they came was a final appearance in 2014 and and semifinal defeat in the inaugural seasonFor twotime champions KKR new coach Chandrakant Pandit will be the key man as it is now an open secret that he along with Mumbai stalwart Abhishek Nayar are going to take all decisions from the dugout and Ranas only job would be to implement themKKR too have been hurt by injuries with regular skipper and batting mainstay Shreyas being almost ruled out of the tournament with a back problemThe two Bangladeshis Shakib Al Hasan and Litton Das are also going to miss the opening game due to national commitmentsKKRs strength too lies in the teams allrounders with the likes of Andre Russell Sunil Narine David Weise Vernkatesh Iyer and Shakib Al Hasan in their rankEven though both Tim Southee and Lockie Fergusson have joined the KKR squad the latter is a doubtful starter on Saturday having injured his right hamstring last weekKKRs weakness lies in an unsettled toporder and it remains to be seen who will anchor the inningsIn Wiese Rinku Singh and Afghan Rahmanullah Gurbaz KKR have some terrific hardhitters who can pull off a win on their given dayOn the bowling front Southee and Umesh Yadav will lead the attack in the company of Shardul Thakur and Varun ChakravarthySquadsfor 1st matchPunjab Kings Shikhar Dhawan c Arshdeep Singh Baltej Singh Raj Bawa Rahul Chahar Sam Curran Rishi Dhawan Nathan Ellis Harpreet Brar Harpreet Singh Vidwath Kaverappa Mohit Rathee Prabhsimran Singh Bhanuka Rajapaksa M Shahrukh Khan Jitesh Sharma Shivam Singh Matthew Short Sikandar Raza Atharva TaideKolkata Knight Riders Nitish Rana c Vaibhav Arora Lockie Ferguson Harshit Rana Venkatesh Iyer N Jagadeesan Kulwant Khejroliya Liton Das Mandeep Singh Sunil Narine Rahmanullah Gurbaz Anukul Roy Andre Russell Shakib Al Hasan Rinku Singh Tim Southee Suyash Sharma Shardul Thakur Varun Chakravarthy David Wiese Umesh YadavMatch starts at 330PMThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever