A struggling Kolkata Knight Riders side faces an in-form Punjab Kings in Match 12 of the 2026 Indian Premier League at Kolkata's Eden Gardens.
While KKR have suffered back-to-back defeats and are lingering at the ninth spot on the IPL points table, PBKS with wins in its first two matches are fourth.
Three-time champions Kolkata started their season with a six-wicket defeat at the hands of Mumbai Indians. The team then lost its match against Sunrisers Hyderabad by 65 runs.
Punjab have seamlessly carried their red-hot form from last season into the new campaign. The 2025 finalists beat Gujarat Titans by three wickets in their season opener and then crushed Chennai Super Kings by 5 wickets.
PBKS captain Shreyas Iyer goes head-to-head with the team he steered to the 2024 title, a subplot that brings added intrigue to tonight's encounter.
Date, Time, Venue
The match between Punjab Kings and Kolkata Knight Riders will be played on April 6. Kolkata's Eden Gardens is hosting the match. The game will get underway at 7.30 pm IST.
Head to Head
Matches Played: 35
Kolkata Knight Riders wins: 21
Punjab Kings wins: 13
No Result: 1
KKR v PBKS Likely XI
Kolkata Knight Riders: Ajinkya Rahane (capt), Finn Allen, Cameron Green, Angkrish Raghuvanshi (wk), Manish Pandey/Ramandeep Singh, Rinku Singh, Anukul Roy, Sunil Narine, Vaibhav Arora/Navdeep Saini/Umran Malik, Varun Chakravarthy, Blessing Muzarabani.
Punjab Kings: Prabhsimran Singh (wk), Priyansh Arya, Cooper Connolly, Shreyas Iyer (capt), Nehal Wadhera, Shashank Singh, Marcus Stoinis, Marco Jansen, Xavier Bartlett, Vijaykumar Vyshak, Arshdeep Singh.
Players to Watch
Angkrish Raghuvanshi: Angkrish Raghuvanshi has started his season with back-to-back half-centuries. This is third year with KKR and he is increasingly becoming one of the team's lead batter in the middle order. Expect more key knocks from him as the season progresses.
Cooper Connolly: After the first week of the new season, Cooper Connolly emerged as one of the top newcomers of the league. The Australian grabbed people's attention for his brilliant half-century in the tricky run-chase against Gujarat. The left-hander will love to feast upon Kolkata's feeble bowling.
Weather
The IMD said West Bengal is likely to experience a spell of kalboishakhi or nor'wester storms, with 50–60 kmph wind, lightning and heavy rain likely to affect Kolkata and nearby regions.There is a chance that the match could get affected due to rain.
LIVE Telecast
The match will be broadcast live on the Star Sports channels.
LIVE Stream
KKR vs PBKS can also be streamed LIVE on the JioHotstar app.
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