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It's been an exciting week of cricketing action in the Indian Premier League (IPL). Some old rivalries were re-ignited while some newer ones formed due to the course of the opening week in the world's biggest T20 competition. Taking the competition forward will be the clash between Kolkata and Punjab on Friday. While Punjab have just played one game this season so far, it will be a rather quick turnaround for Kolkata who will be playing their third match tomorrow.
Punjab would be extremely confident after having successfully chased over 200 runs in their first match of this edition. However, they would want to improve on their bowling as it might not be possible to chase down a total in excess of 200 in every game. Kolkata, meanwhile, registered a commanding win over Chennai in their first match but lost the second match against Bangalore after putting on just 128 on the board.
The positive for Kolkata though would be the fact that they made a game out of the low score and put on a fight, losing only in the final over of the match.
Prior to what promises to be another exciting game in IPL, here are some stat-based predictions of the match.
1. Toss Prediction
Both teams have had a decent amount of luck in the recent past as far as tosses are concerned. Kolkata have won 3 out of the last five tosses while Punjab won four out of the last five tosses. Based on that, the prediction is that Punjab will win the toss.
2. Win Possibility
The win possibility is heavily stacked in favour of Kolkata. Overall, the two sides have met each other on 29 occasions in the IPL. While Kolkata have emerged as the winner in 19 of these matches, Punjab have won the remaining 10. In the last three matches, Kolkata have won 2. In the last season, one match went in favour of Kolkata while the other was won by Punjab.
3. Team of the Day
Given that Kolkata share a great record over Punjab, the team of the day is Kolkata. Moreover, they gave a fight even when they had just put on 128- all the more reason to back the Men in Purple in this game.
4. Powerplay Score
The average powerplay score at the Wankhede Stadium has been 45.6 in this format of the game. However, in IPL 2022 so far, the average score is 38.5. Given how Kolkata's top-order has struggled to get going, Kolkata will score less than 40 runs in the powerplay. However, Punjab with the likes of Mayank Agarwal, Shikhar Dhawan and Liam Livingstone in there are likely to score more than 40 runs inside the six overs.
5. Average first innings and second innings score
The average first innings score at Wankhede Stadium is 166.8. However, in the current season, it has for some reason been below the all-time average at 144.5.
158 is the average first innings score at this venue in the last 5 matches. While 146 is the average second innings score at the same time.
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed within this article are the author’s point of view. They neither reflect the opinion of SportsTiger nor advise anyone to make any prediction based on this. SportsTiger does not assume any responsibility and liability for the same.