Indian T20 League 2022: Kolkata vs Punjab - Match 8 - Preview, Playing XIs, Where To Watch & Updates

Match 8 of the Indian T20 League 2022 will be played between Kolkata and Punjab. While many teams have only played a single game in the tournament, Kolkata is moving on to play its third game, at the Wankhede Stadium. 

The Shreyas Iyer-led Kolkata team has played two games, winning one against Chennai and losing the other against Bangalore. Even in their loss against Bangalore, they did not let Bangalore have an easy win in a small chase. The match went to the wire with Bangalore winning with three wickets.  Meanwhile, this will be Punjab's second match of the season, after winning the first game against Bangalore. Both teams have some good players up their ranks and the match will definitely be close contest. 

In the next match, Kolkata will have to focus a lot more on its batting as they have not had breakthrough performances in any of the two matches. Against Chennai, they had a small target to chase. Against Bangalore, they set a small target batting first.

Punjab, on the other hand, was great with the bat in their first match. All they need to do now is get better with the ball. In the match against Bangalore, Punjab failed to take wickets. They could only manage two wickets in the innings, which allowed Bangalore to score over 200. Their batting was on point as most of them had something to contribute. They will look to deliver a similar batting performance in the match against Kolkata.

Pitch Conditions

The pitch at the Wankhede Stadium has been good for the fast bowlers so far. It has produced a lot of swing because of the grass coverage. The batters will require some time to settle but can play freely after that. The team winning the toss will look forward to bowling first in these conditions, as dew is also a factor here.

Probable Playing XI's

Kolkata can go unchanged in their playing XI as they have played some good cricket in the two matches. However, there are some concerns about the fitness of Andre Russell. If he is not 100 per cent fit, Kolkata may rest him for the game. Meanwhile, Punjab's star pacer Kagiso Rabada is likely to be available from the next game.

Kolkata- Ajinkya Rahane, Venkatesh Iyer, Nitish Rana, Shreyas Iyer (c), Sam Billings, Sheldon Jackson (wk), Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Tim Southee, Umesh Yadav, Varun Chakravarthy

Punjab- Mayank Agarwal (c), Shikhar Dhawan, Liam Livingstone, Bhanuka Rajapaksa (wk), Shahrukh Khan, Odean Smith, Raj Bawa, Arshdeep Singh, Harpreet Brar, Kagiso Rabada, Rahul Chahar

Match details

Venue- Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai

Date- 1st April, Friday

Time- 7:30 p.m (IST)

Broadcast: Star Sports Network, Disney+ Hotstar