Kolkata, April 13 (CRICKETNMORE): Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) won the toss and opted to field against Kings XI Punjab in their first Indian Premier League (IPL) home game at the Eden Gardens here on Thursday. Lack of IPL exposure reason for Pakistan's 20th century cricket, says Mickey Arthur
Smarting from a defeat at the hands of Mumbai Indians in their last game, KKR were bolstered by the return of fit-again India pacer Umesh Yadav and New Zealand all-rounder Colin de Grandhomme. The pair replaced Ankit Rajpoot and injured Australian opener Chris Lynn.
Kuldeep Yadav was also dropped with leg-spinner Piyush Chawla replacing the young chinaman bowler.
Kings XI, coming into the tie after a resounding eight-wicket against Royal Challengers Bangalore, made one change with India pacer Ishant Sharma coming in place of T. Natarajan.
Teams:
KKR: Gautam Gambhir (Captain), Robin Uthappa (WK), Manish Pandey, Yusuf Pathan, Shakib-Al Hasan, Suryakumar Yadav, Chris Woakes, Kuldeep Yadav, Sunil Narine, Umesh Yadav, Trent Boult.
Kings XI Punjab: Hashim Amla, Manan Vohra, Wriddhiman Saha (WK), Axar Patel, Glenn Maxwell (Captain), David Miller, Marcus Stoinis, Mohit Sharma, Sandeep Sharma, Ishant Sharma, Varun Aaron.