IPL 2019, KXIP vs KKR, Match 52: A battle of pride to get closer to play-offs

Both KKR and Kings XI have 10 points from 12 matches but the Kolkata outfit is placed a rung above Punjab at sixth in the eight-team competition by virtue of a better net run-rate

Keeping the eliminations in mind, two-time champions Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) will be locking horns with Kings XI Punjab(KXIP) in a battle of survival on Friday at Mohali. Both sides are languishing at the bottom half of the table and need to win in order to keep alive their remote Play-off chances. Both KKR and Kings XI have 10 points from 12 matches but the Kolkata outfit is placed a rung above Punjab at sixth in the eight-team competition by virtue of a better net run-rate. They also had a decent outing in the first half of the tournament before losing the plot in the all-important second phase. After registering four wins and one loss in the first five games, KKR suffered six defeats in a row that derailed their campaign. Although KKR return to winning ways against Mumbai Indians in their last game, the Dinesh Karthik-led side needs to register victories in their final two games to have an outside chance of qualifying for the Play-offs. Similarly, KXIP too had an erratic campaign so far and are on a three-match losing streak, going into Friday's game. However, their situation is worse than KKR as they have a negative net run rate, which eventually can come into the picture. SQUADS: Kolkata Knight Riders:  Dinesh Karthik (C), Robin Uthappa, Chris Lynn, Shubman Gill, Andre Russell, Carlos Brathwaite, Sunil Narine, Piyush Chawla, Kuldeep Yadav, Nikhil Naik, Joe Denly, Shrikant Mundhe, Nitish Rana, Sandeep Warrier, Prasidh Krishna, Lockie Ferguson, Harry Gurney, Matt Kelly, KC Cariappa and Yarra Prithviraj. Kings XI Punjab: Ravichandran Ashwin (C), K L Rahul, Chris Gayle, Mayank Agarwal, Sarfaraz Khan, David Miller, Mandeep Singh, Sam Curran, Andrew Tye, Murugan Ashwin, Mohammed Shami, Mujeeb Ur Rehman, Karun Nair, Moises Henriques, Varun Chakravarthi, Harpreet Brar, Simran Singh, Nicholas Pooran, Hardus Viljoen, Ankit Rajpoot, Arshdeep Singh, Darshan Nalkande, Agnivesh Ayachi.