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PBKS, who bowled well against MI on a sluggish surface, will fancy their chances in Ahmedabad, which is likely to offer similar tracks. Ravi Bishnoi put in an impressive shift along with Deepak Hooda on the spin-bowling front. Moises Henriques, Mohammed Sham and Arshdeep Singh also performed admirably to restrict MI to a sub-par total of 131-6.
In response, KL Rahul and Mayank Agarwal teed off in the powerplay. After Agarwal's dismissal, Rahul and Gayle got the team home with 14 deliveries to spare. It was a complete team performance from PBKS, who completely dominated their opponents on the day.
KKR, meanwhile, produced a surprisingly muted batting display on a slightly slower Wankhede wicket. Put into bat by RR, KKR struggled to score at six runs per over for most of their innings, with Rahul Tripathi andĀ Dinesh KarthikĀ the only batters to show some intent. With Andre Russell coming in too late and some accurate bowling from the Royals, KKR finished with an underwhelming total of 133-9.
Though KKR picked up some wickets, a mature innings from Sanju Samson and a good finish fromĀ David MillerĀ helped the Royals past the finish line. KKR need to get a settled batting order and select the best batting position for Andre Russell. Given their overseas contingent and bench strength, KKR will look to fare better in the Ahmedabad leg of their campaign.
The Punjab Kings (PBKS) shouldn't deviate much from their winning combination. Jhye Richardson could come back to the side in place ofĀ Fabian Allen, looking at the conditions on offer. Otherwise, they should field an unchanged XI
Despite their loss to RR, there's no reason for KKR to juggle their pack too much. They are playing close to their best playing XI, but they need to set their batting order right and bowl better on the day. Lockie Ferguson could replace Sunil Narine, keeping in mind the conditions in Ahmedabad, but they shouldn't make too many other changes.