Shreyas Iyer, the Knight who became King, looks to lay siege to Mullanpur – PBKS vs KKR, IPL 2025 preview

Punjab Kings have so far fully adopted Maharaja Yadavindra Singh International Cricket Stadium of Mullanpur as their home. The team led by Shreyas Iyer, who won only two of the seven matches played here in the Indian Premier League (IPL), will expect to improve their records on hosting Kolkata Knight Riders on Tuesday.

The last time these two teams met, PBK recorded the highest chase in T20 – 262 runs, with Shreyas, then leading Knight Riders, at the end of the receiving end. In PBK’s previous stability, Sunrisers Hyderabad comfortably chased 246 runs, and Shreyas was once again the losing captain.

Shreyas’ term as King’s captain in IPL 2025 began with two consecutive wins, but has suffered two significant disadvantages since then – one at home against SRH and the other at home against Rajasthan Royals.

go bowling

Despite the services of India’s leading wicket -taking Arshdeep Singh in T20, PBK has struggled to control the scoring rate in the powerplay, which accepts 9.83 runs per over and the worst average – 73.75. The conflict continues in 7-16 overs, where the team has given 10.64 runs to every six balls – the worst in this season. To make things worse, Lockie Ferguson excluded the ground in Hyderabad and is out of dispute indefinitely.

Leg spinner Yuzvendra Chahal has not seen like a bowler. In five innings, Chahal took two wickets during the 11.13 economy.

According to James Hopes, an assistant coach of Kings, Chahal needs to be brought into the game, as much as he has done, it shows that he can bowl more in the first half of the innings than the latter.

Prabks batting powerful

However, Kings have tried to balance their lack of bowling with aggressive batting, which has worked so far. Under the leadership of Yuva Priyash Arya and Prabhasimran Singh, PBKS’s powerplay has the highest run rate – 11.4.

Shreyas has upgraded her power-touching game-she has hit every six balls every six balls instead of 17 in IPL 2024. He is already one of the top run-songs in this season, scoring 250 runs at a strike rate of 83 and 208.33 on an average.

Solid bowling attack

On the eve of the match, all -rounder Ramandip Singh re -witnessed a popular principle that suggests that batsmen win the match and bowlers win the tournament. And this season has been the case with KKR’s bowling performance, which has been swimming the team so far.

KKR spinner PBK’s batting can run a spinner where the game will be headed.

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The team comes in the game behind a dominating victory over Chennai Super Kings, where spinners – Moin Ali, Sunil Narin, and Varun Chakarwarthi – bowled 12 overs for 45 and took six wickets between them. Taking three wickets against CSK, Narin made a quiet start for the season, but even more importantly she found her control back.

Kolkata Knight Riders Spinners Sunil Narin (left) and Varun Chakarwardi will hold. , Photo Credit: KR Deepak / The Hindu

Even though spinners can lead the night riders bowling attack, Harshit Rana and Vaibhav Arora have performed well with a new ball to ban the opposition batsmen from growing up in powerplay. While Arora has taken out the swing on the offer, Rana’s hit-deck delivery and off-cuts have done well in favor of KKR.

Hit-end-miss batting

The batsmen do not have their ability yet. Captain Ajinkya Rahane has made good use of fielding sanctions, but has struggled to maintain that speed through the middle overs. Rahane attacks 200 in the first six overs, which falls to 117 after the spread of the field.

One of KKR’s major concerns is Andre Russell’s weak form with bat. He has scored just 17 runs in four innings with a highest score of only seven. If the situation asks for this, KKR may consider pursuing the order to help him find rhythm and confidence.