The 45^th match of the IPL 2021 will be played between Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and Punjab Kings (PBKS) in Dubai on October 1, 2021. KKR had beaten PBKS in their previous encounter in Ahmedabad during the India leg of the tournament.

KKR is placed 4^th on the points table and needs to win this game to stay in contention for the playoffs. On the other hand, PBKS are at the 6^th spot and this is a must-win game for them as a loss here may end their dreams of qualifying for the playoffs.

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Keeping this in mind, Team COC presents the Predicted Playing XIs for the KKR v PBKS match in Dubai.

KOLKATA KNIGHT RIDERS

The Eoin Morgan-led side has been in good form in UAE, as apart from a loss against the Chennai Super Kings, they have done well by winning all of the remaining encounters and have moved to the 4^th spot in the points table with 5 wins in 11 matches.

They need to win all their remaining matches in order to solidify their qualification for the playoffs with 16 points to their name.

However the KKR franchise is currently been marred with injuries as they have lost the services of Andre Russell due to a hamstring issue and in their last match, fast bowler Lockie Ferguson also suffered from a hamstring niggle.

Therefore, they have the choice of bringing in Ben Cutting as the replacement who can bowl quite fast and is a very good hitter, or given the game is in Dubai, can opt for Shakib Al Hasan as the spin all-rounder option.

PUNJAB KINGS

The Punjab Kings will be much happy to have the services of opener Mayank Agarwal back given he recovers from his neck issues. This is because Chris Gayle didn’t do as well as expected in the UAE leg of the tournament, and has now left the team due to bubble fatigue.

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Aiden Markram has impressed a lot along with KL Rahul who has been in superb form with the bat. But the form of Deepak Hooda and the constant failures of Nicholas Pooran has resulted in PBKS missing out on winning the crucial moments in the match and losing the encounter in the process.

PBKS can rectify that issue by bringing in Moises Henriques in place of Gayle for this important encounter against KKR, as a loss here will end their hopes of playoffs qualification.

KKR COC Predicted Playing XI:

Shubman Gill, Venkatesh Iyer, Rahul Tripathi, Nitish Rana, Eoin Morgan (C), Dinesh Karthik (WK), Ben Cutting, Sunil Narine, Tim Southee, Sandeep Warrier, Varun Chakravarthy

PBKS COC Predicted Playing XI:

KL Rahul (C&WK), Mayank Agarwal, Aiden Markram, Nicholas Pooran, Deepak Hooda, Moises Henriques, Harpreet Brar, Ravi Bishnoi, Nathan Ellis, Mohammad Shami, Arshdeep Singh