Both Punjab Kings (PBKS) and Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) are owned by Bollywood actors and there is always a glamour and a glitz factor associated with these teams in the Indian Premier League (IPL).
While Shah Rukh Khan’s KKR have won the IPL on 2 occasions, Preity Zinta’s Punjab hasn’t been able to win the IPL on a single occasion so far. They have reached the finals once in 2014 and they went down against KKR itself.
Perhaps the most important match of all time between these two sides in the IPL was the IPL 2014 final. Manish Pandey activated his beast mode as we saw him single-handedly win the game for Kolkata Knight Riders.
Pandey had scored 94 runs in 50 balls and was awarded with the player of the match award.
Punjab Kings
Punjab Kings had a major rejig in their think-tank. While they roped in Trevor Bayliss as the new Head Coach, replacing Anil Kumble, they also changed their skipper.
Former skipper Mayank Agarwal was let go and Indian veteran opener Shikhar Dhawan has been named as the skipper of the side in IPL 2023.
The Punjab side has one of the most balanced sides in IPL 2023 and boast of some formidable names. They were however dealt with a major blow as their star opener Jonny Bairstow ruled himself out of IPL 2023. All-rounder Matthew Short was named as his replacement.
Come IPL 2023 and Punjab Kings would be hoping that their star signing of Sam Curran for a whopping sum of Rs. 18.50 crores, delivers the goods for the franchise. Notably, this is the highest ever sum given to a player in the IPL.
Kolkata Knight Riders
Kolkata Knight Riders will be opening their IPL 2023 season against Punjab Kings itself. The match will be played on 1st April, at the Punjab Cricket Association Stadium in Mohali. The match is slated to begin from 7:30 PM (IST).
The franchise suffered a huge blow when their skipper and best batter Shreyas Iyer was ruled out of IPL 2023 (he might come back for a few matches) because of a back problem. KKR then named Nitish Rana as the skipper, who has been associated with the franchise since 2018.
KKR have a few new faces in the camp in the form of Lockie Ferguson, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Shakib Al Hasan and Litton Das.
Head-to-Head IPL 2023 Record of PBKS vs KKR
KKR share a comfortable lead over their rivals Punjab Kings in the head-to-head. They have played a total of 30 games with each other and Punjab Kings would be hoping to cut back on the deficit in IPL 2023.
Total: 30
PBKS: 10
KKR: 20
List of matches played between PBKS and KKR since IPL 2008
| Date | Winner | Margin | Venue |
| 01-Apr-2022 | Kolkata | 6 wickets | Mumbai |
| 01-Oct-2021 | Punjab | 5 Wickets | Dubai |
| 26-Apr-2021 | Kolkata | 5 Wickets | Ahmedabad |
| 26-Oct-2020 | Punjab | 8 Wickets | Sharjah |
| 10-Oct-2020 | Kolkata | 2 Runs | Abu Dhabi |
| 3-May-2019 | Kolkata | 7 Wickets | Mohali |
| 27-Mar-2019 | Kolkata | 28 Runs | Kolkata |
| 12-May-2018 | Kolkata | 31 Runs | Indore |
| 21-Apr-2018 | Punjab | 9 Wickets | Kolkata |
| 9-May-2017 | Punjab | 14 Runs | Mohali |
| 13-Apr-2017 | Kolkata | 8 Wickets | Kolkata |
| 4-May-2016 | Kolkata | 7 Runs | Kolkata |
| 19-Apr-2016 | Kolkata | 6 Wickets | Mohali |
| 9-May-2015 | Kolkata | 1 Wicket | Kolkata |
| 18-Apr-2015 | Kolkata | 4 Wickets | Pune |
| 1-Jun-2014 | Kolkata | 3 Wickets | Bangalore |
| 28-May-2014 | Kolkata | 28 Runs | Kolkata |
| 11-May-2014 | Kolkata | 9 Wickets | Cuttack |
| 26-Apr-2014 | Punjab | 23 Runs | Abu Dhabi |
| 26-Apr-2013 | Kolkata | 6 Wickets | Kolkata |
| 16-Apr-2013 | Punjab | 4 Runs | Mohali |
| 18-Apr-2012 | Kolkata | 8 Wickets | Mohali |
| 15-Apr-2012 | Punjab | 2 Runs | Kolkata |
| 30-Apr-2011 | Kolkata | 8 Wickets | Kolkata |
| 4-Apr-2010 | Punjab | 8 Wickets | Kolkata |
| 27-Mar-2010 | Kolkata | 39 Runs | Mohali |
| 3-May-2009 | Punjab | 6 Wickets | Port Elizabeth |
| 21-Apr-2009 | Kolkata | 11 Runs | Durban |
| 25-May-2008 | Kolkata | 3 Wickets | Kolkata |
| 3-May-2008 | Punjab | 9 Runs | Mohali |
Most runs in PBKS vs KKR fixtures
Gautam Gambhir (KKR)- 492 runs
Most wickets in PBKS vs KKR fixtures
Sunil Narine (KKR)- 32 wickets
Squads
Punjab Kings
Shikhar Dhawan (c), Shahrukh Khan, Matthew Short, Prabhsimran Singh, Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Jitesh Sharma, Raj Bawa, Rishi Dhawan, Liam Livingstone, Atharva Taide, Arshdeep Singh, Baltej Singh, Nathan Ellis, Kagiso Rabada, Rahul Chahar, Harpreet Brar, Sam Curran, Sikandar Raza, Harpreet Bhatia, Vidwath Kaverappa, Mohit Rathee, Shivam Singh.
Kolkata Knight Riders
Nitish Rana (c), Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Venkatesh Iyer, Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Shardul Thakur, Lockie Ferguson, Umesh Yadav, Tim Southee, Harshit Rana, Varun Chakravarthy, Anukul Roy, Rinku Singh, N. Jagadeesan, Vaibhav Arora, Suyash Sharma, David Wiese, Kulwant Khejroliya, Litton Das, Mandeep Singh, Shakib Al Hasan.
Also read: IPL 2023: 3 Reasons Why Shardul Thakur Might Have A Stellar Season For KKR
