When Kings XI Punjab hosted Kolkata Knight Riders they snatched victory from jaws of defeat defying Narine’s hattrick effort. Now when both teams playing 8th match of season are completing half-journey in 2013 edition, both certainly need maximum points to have lesser challenges in the second half of their jounrey. While KKR has lost to good teams at home, Kings XI has two good victories, one in a big chase and other with tidy bowling taking them to 5th position.
History
In every edition they have shared the honours, but with only one match to play in 2011, KKR has won a match more than Kings XI, which Kings XI equalized with a victory in their first game of current edition. While Kings XI started as a strong team with a semifinal entry an KKR as one of the biggest disappointments of IPL in first three editions, the change of reign to Gambhir has helped KKR emerge as one of the best teams in the last two edition, and to add to that they are the defending champion too.
Head-to-Head: KKR 5, 5 Kings XI
2008
-
KXIP def KKR by 9 Runs
KKR def KXIP by 3 Wickets
2009
- KKR def KXIP by 11 Runs
KXIP def KKR by 6 Wickets
2010
- KKR def KXIP by 39 Runs
KXIP def KKR by 8 Wickets
2011
- KKR def KXIP by 8 wickets
2012
Kings XI def KKR by 2 runs, MOM: Narine (KKR)
Result: KKR won by 8 wkts, MOM: Gambhir
2013
- Kings XI won by 4 runs, MOM: Gony
IPL Performances
Kings XI reached the semifinals once in inaugural edition and since then are going downwards, although in the last edition was better one for them with 8 wins tied with RCB and CSK for a place in Knock out.
KKR has a different story to tell. Being discarded as the burden of IPL in the first three editions, their fortunes changed dramatically after overhauling of team in 2009. They have reached two consecutive knockouts and are the defending champions now.
In 2008 KKR had 6 Win, 7 Losses, 1 No Result against DD. In 2009 they Won 3, Lost 10 and again had 1 No Result. In 2010 they had the best performance with 7 Wins and 7 Losses. In 2011, they won 8 and lost 7. In 2012 they won 12 and lost 5 only.
Kings XI has reached 2008 semifinals. They won 10 matches and lost 5. In 2009, Kings XI could not reach the semifinal and had even results, winning 7 and losing 7. 2010 saw their worst performance when they won 4 and lost 10. In 2011, they won 7 and lost 7. In 2012 they won 8 and lost 8 to finish 6th.
2013 Performances So far
Both started their campaign on a promising note. KKR played the inaugural match of the tournament and defeated DD, while Kings XI started their campaign by thumping Pune Warriors in away match.
After 7 matches each KKR is lagging far behind, while Kings XI appears the stronest dark horse of the season.
Kings XI Match Results
KKRs Match Results
Overall Performance
KKR has 38 Wins, 41 Losses and 2 No Result. Kings XI has won 40 matches and lost 40 before this match.
Team Comparison
Kolkata is a two and half men army at present. In batting Gambhir, and Morgan hold the key, while in bowling Narine and Senanayake are performing. Even Senanayake failed against Mumbai Indians. Captain has been found lacking in team selection and on-field decision taking ability. Indian contingent is completely misfiring.
Kings XI is a team where bowlers are good, except Piyush Chawla. Foreign batsmen are batting well, captain is taking good decisions, and most important Indian rookie contingent is firing.
KXIPs Team Performance in 2013
Kings XI won the last match because firstly Gony was able to attack Narine and others even after Narine’s hattrick, and then Gambhir fell down early in the decent chase.
At Kolkata MI and CSK has already won. The spin makes Kolkata stronger at home, but a team with some skilled batsmen face less challenge and Kings XI would be confident about batting. Their spinning trump card Chawla is more successful with bat than ball, but in the last match David Hussey’s economic performance was encouraging for them.
A win would make Kings XI complete their half-journey with 10 points in pocket, but KKR with only 4 points need the victory badly. They can upto any extent to win the match. And if that involves changing the team making the non-performers warm the dug out, then they do have an outside chance to start winning again, othwerwise it is all about Kings XI.
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