The Cricketer takes a look at the next fixture in the 2022 Indian Premier League season
Kolkata Knight Riders take on Punjab Kings in the Indian Premier League.
The game will be played on Friday, April 1. The first ball will be bowled at 7.30pm local time (3pm GMT).
The game will be held at Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.
After a host of changes during the off-season, both sides will be relieved to be off the mark in the 15th edition of the IPL.
KKR opened up by exacting revenge over Chennai Super Kings in a repeat of last year's final, with a six-wicket victory.
But they were unable to double up a few days later, losing in a tight low-scoring game with Royal Challengers Bangalore.
Andre Russell top-scoring with 25 tells the story of an innings in which eight players got into double figures but were unable to go on.
Indeed, KKR did well to even reach the 128 they eventually mustered after being reduced to 67 for 6.
Russell muscled a four and three sixes to ensure they had a total to defend on a tacky pitch.
Three wickets for Tim Southee had RCB at 111 for 7, still needing 18 from 3.1 overs.
But Dinesh Karthik used all of his experience and along with Harshal Patel knocked off the runs with four balls to spare.
Newly-led Punjab Kings, without former skipper KL Rahul or assistant Andy Flower, prevailed in the highest-scoring game of the competition, also against RCB.
Set 206 to win, 43s from Shikhar Dhawan and Bhanuka Rajapaksa were backed up by a quick-fire 25* from Odean Smith to win with an over to spare.
Jonny Bairstow (Francois Nel/Getty Images)
Jonny Bairstow begins his spell with a second IPL franchise, after three seasons with Sunrisers Hyderabad, after joining up with Punjab Kings following England's Test tour in West Indies.
One of five SRH batters to reach four figures for the franchise, the Yorkshireman made 1,038 runs across three campaigns, a best of 114 at a strike rate of 142.19.
Able to bat anywhere in the top six if required, he will likely come straight into the XI replacing Bhanuka Rajapaksa, who took the gloves and batted at No.3 against RCB.
KKR will likely turn to their spin ranks in an effort to nullify Bairstow, with the tricky Sunil Narine the obvious option.
The West Indian can challenge both edges of the bat and if he isn't taking wickets can put a real clamp on the scoring.
His eight overs so far in the tournament have gone at 3.37 an over, with his only victim so far being another Yorkshireman in RCB's David Willey.
Matches played: 29
Kolkata Knight Riders wins: 19
Punjab Kings wins: 10
Temperatures will be a relatively moderate 28 degrees Celsius for the start of play, with clear skies expected.
Kolkata Knight Riders: Sunil Narine, Andre Russell, Varun Chakravarthy, Venkatesh Iyer, Pat Cummins, Nitish Rana, Shreyas Iyer, Shivam Mavi, Sheldon Jackson, Ajinkya Rahane, Rinku Singh, Anukul Roy, Rasikh Dar, Baba Indrajith, Chamika Karunaratne, Abhijeet Tomar, Pratham Singh, Ashok Sharma, Sam Billings, Aaron Finch, Tim Southee, Ramesh Kumar, Mohammad Nabi, Umesh Yadav
Punjab Kings: Mayank Agarwal, Arshdeep Singh, Shikhar Dhawan, Kagiso Rabada, Jonny Bairstow, Rahul Chahar, Shahrukh Khan, Harpreet Brar, Prabhsimran Singh, Jitesh Sharma, Ishan Porel, Liam Livingstone, Odean Smith, Sandeep Sharma, Raj Bawa, Rishi Dhawan, Prerak Mankad, Vaibhav Arora, Writtick Chatterjee, Baltej Dhanda, Ansh Patel, Nathan Ellis, Atharva Taide, Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Benny Howell
Sunil Narine (Gareth Copley/Getty Images)
Kolkata Knight Riders: Venkatesh Iyer, Ajinkya Rahane, Nitish Rana, Shreyas Iyer, Sunil Narine, Sam Billings, Andre Russell, Sheldon Jackson, Tim Southee, Umesh Yadav, Varun Chakravarthy
Punjab Kings: Mayank Agarwal, Shikhar Dhawan, Jonny Bairstow, Liam Livingstone, Shahrukh Khan, Raj Bawa, Odean Smith, Harpreet Brar, Arshdeep Singh, Rahul Chahar, Sandeep Sharma
Punjab Kings start this game as the favourites with the bookmakers, at 4/6. KKR, meanwhile, are available at 6/5.
Punjab Kings have shown their ability to put on big runs but KKR's bowling attack might be a good match for them. Expect a close game, but for the Kings to come out on top.
In the UK, Sky Sports have exclusive rights to this year's tournament, with matches available on Sky Sports Main Event and Sky Sports Cricket.
Fans in India can watch all of the action on Star Sports.
Elsewhere in the world, viewers in Australia can watch the IPL on Fox Sports while in New Zealand, Sky Sport will provide coverage.
Willow TV and Flow Sports will broadcast the tournament in the United States and the Caribbean, respectively.
Fans in MENA can catch the action on beIN Sports while in South Africa, SuperSport have the rights.
The IPL can also be streamed on Disney+ and Hotstar in certain areas.
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