Punjab Kings and Kolkata Knight Riders are all set to have a crack at each other in the 31st match of the Indian Premier League 2025 on Tuesday, April 15. Shreyas Iyer, the 2024 IPL-winning captain with KKR, is all set to face his former franchise as skipper of PBKS. He will look for motivation after Punjab's slight slip in recent outings.
After winning two in two and being among the trendsetters, Punjab have lost two of their last three matches. Against RR, their bowling line-up let Rajasthan put 205 at the Maharaja Yadavindra Singh International Cricket Stadium, Mullanpur, and their batting attack was outdone cheaply.
Against SRH, their batters piled up a huge score of 245, however, their bowling attack came under fire from Abhishek Sharma. PBKS will look to course correct themselves and get back to winning ways.
KKR have been hot and cold all through the season so far, with a win and a loss coming in alternating matches so far. They do possess a batting attack that can mow down 200-plus scores and have a bowling attack that features the likes of Sunil Narine, Varun Chakravarthy, Harshit Rana and Vaibhav Arora.
Maharaja Yadavindra Singh Stadium pitch report
There have been two matches played at the Maharaja Yadavindra Singh Stadium till now in IPL 2025, and three out of four times, teams have breached past 200. RR scored 205/4 against PBKS, who were restricted to 155/9. Punjab racked up 219/6 against Chennai Super Kings, who came close in their reply and ended on 201.
The batters have been able to unleash their strokes at the Mullanpur-based stadium till now. Expect something similar to happen in the PBKS vs KKR game too.
Maharaja Yadavindra Singh Stadium - The Numbers Game
Matches Played - 7
Matches Won Batting Second - 3 (42.86%)
Matches Won Winning Toss - 3 (42.86%)
Matches Won Losing Toss - 4 (57.14%)
Highest Team Innings - 219/6 (Punjab Kings) v Chennai Super Kings
Lowest Team Innings - 142 (Punjab Kings) v Gujarat Titans
Average Score Batting First - 180.14
Squads:
Kolkata Knight Riders Squad: Quinton de Kock(w), Sunil Narine, Ajinkya Rahane(c), Rinku Singh, Venkatesh Iyer, Moeen Ali, Andre Russell, Ramandeep Singh, Harshit Rana, Vaibhav Arora, Varun Chakaravarthy, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Manish Pandey, Anukul Roy, Luvnith Sisodia, Rovman Powell, Anrich Nortje, Mayank Markande, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Chetan Sakariya, Spencer Johnson
Punjab Kings Squad: Priyansh Arya, Prabhsimran Singh(w), Shreyas Iyer(c), Nehal Wadhera, Shashank Singh, Glenn Maxwell, Marcus Stoinis, Marco Jansen, Yuzvendra Chahal, Arshdeep Singh, Yash Thakur, Suryansh Shedge, Praveen Dubey, Vijaykumar Vyshak, Harpreet Brar, Azmatullah Omarzai, Josh Inglis, Xavier Bartlett, Vishnu Vinod, Aaron Hardie, Kuldeep Sen, Harnoor Singh, Musheer Khan, Pyla Avinash