IPL 2018 KXIP vs KKR: Punjab wins toss; Kolkata to bat first

Indore: Winning the toss, Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) skipper Ravichandran Ashwin took the most obvious decision of fielding first against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) at the Holkar Cricket Stadium here on Saturday.

KKR captain Dinesh Karthik said that his team was not bothered to bat first despite the record of teams chasing has been far better this season. He informed that Tom Curran has been dropped to include Javon Searles. Shubman Gill has also regained fitness and has been included in the playing XI while Rinku Singh has been dropped.

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KXIP skipper Ashwin said that he was willing to chase looking at the small size of the ground. Mayank Agarwal is back in place of Akshdeep Nath, while Aaron Finch has replaced Marcus Stoinis and Barinder Sran will play in place of Manoj Tiwary.

Here are the two playing XIs:

Kings XI Punjab (KXIP): Chris Gayle, Lokesh Rahul (wk), Mayank Agarwal, Aaron Finch, Karun Nair, Axar Patel, Ravichandran Ashwin (c), Andrew Tye, Mohit Sharma, Barinder Sran, Mujeeb Ur Rahman

Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR): Chris Lynn, Sunil Narine, Robin Uthappa, Shubman Gill, Nitish Rana, Dinesh Karthik (wk/c), Andre Russell, Javon Searles, Piyush Chawla, Prasidh Krishna, Kuldeep Yadav