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Punjab Kings (PBKS) skipper Shikhar Dhawan has won the toss and chose to bat first in the 53rd IPL 2023 match against the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) at Eden Gardens on Monday, May 8.
PBKS have received a massive boost in the form of Bhanuka Rajapaksa, who has recovered and is a part of the playing XI. The left-handed batter replaced Matthew Short, who has been short of runs. KKR, on the hand, have retained their winning combination that defeated the SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH).
Here is the list of substitute players for the match:
Kolkata Knight Riders: Jason Roy, Anukul Roy, Narayan Jagadeesan, Kulwant Khejroliya, and Lockie Ferguson.
Punjab Kings: Nathan Ellis, Sikandar Raza, Atharva Taide, Mohit Rathee, and Matthew Short.
KKR were the first team to use the Impact Player sub, bringing in Jason Roy in place of leg-spinner Suyash Sharma. Punjab, on the other hand, added pacer Nathan Ellis to their starting XI, replacing batter Bhanuka Rajapaksa.
Speaking at the toss, PBKS skipper Shikhar Dhawan felt that the wicket was dry, prompting him to bat first.
"We gonna bat first. The wicket looks quite dry, we would like to put a good total and defend it. That's a good thing that we are scoring 200 every game. One change, Bhanuka (Rajapaksa) comes in place of (Matthew) Short. Seems like it will stop a bit and come," Dhawan said.
KKR captain Nitish Rana stated that they also wanted to bat first as the hosts are stacked with quality spinners.
"The wicket looks to be on the drier side. We are going with the same team. We wanted to bat first so that our spinners can come more into play later in the game, Rana said.
KKR vs PBKS Playing XIs
Kolkata Knight Riders: Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), Venkatesh Iyer, Nitish Rana (c), Rinku Singh, Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Shardul Thakur, Vaibhav Arora, Harshit Rana, Suyash Sharma, and Varun Chakaravarthy.
Punjab Kings: Prabhsimran Singh, Shikhar Dhawan (c), Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Liam Livingstone, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Sam Curran, Shahrukh Khan, Harpreet Brar, Rishi Dhawan, Rahul Chahar, and Arshdeep Singh.
