IPL 2018: Kings XI Punjab win toss, opt to bowl vs Kolkata Knight Riders

Kings XI Punjab won the toss and opted to field against Kolkata Knight Riders in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2018 match at the Holkar Stadium here on Saturday. (KXIP v KKR LIVE UPDATES)

Hosts KXIP made three changes with Mayank Agarwal, Aaron Finch and Barinder Sran coming in for Akshdeep Nath, Marcus Stoinis and Manoj Tiwary. (KXIP v KKR LIVE SCORECARD)

“It’s a small ground, and it will be difficult to defend here. We will try to chase it down,” said KXIP captain Ashwin at the toss.

KKR, on the other hand, also made a couple of changes. Shubman Gill, who missed the last game against Mumbai Indians (MI) due to a sore knee, replaced Rinku Singh. Javon Searles, the 31-year-old fast bowler from Barbados, was handed his debut cap. Tom Curran, who has had a poor tournament so far – going for more than 10 per over, was left out.

With 10 points from 11 games, today’s game is a must-win encounter for Dinesh Karthik and his men if they want to keep their play-off chances alive.

KXIP, on the other hand, have four games left and two more victories will confirm their spot in the last four.

Teams:

Kings XI Punjab: Chris Gayle, Lokesh Rahul(wk), Mayank Agarwal, Aaron Finch, Karun Nair, Axar Patel, Ravichandran Ashwin(c), Andrew Tye, Mohit Sharma, Barinder Sran, Mujeeb Ur Rahman

Kolkata Knight Riders: Chris Lynn, Sunil Narine, Robin Uthappa, Nitish Rana, Dinesh Karthik(c/wk), Shubman Gill, Andre Russell, Piyush Chawla, Javon Searles, Prasidh Krishna, Kuldeep Yadav