IPL 2020, KXIP vs KKR, Kings XI Punjab vs Kolkata Knight Riders Face-Off: Nicholas Pooran vs Varun Chakravarthy

The Kolkata Knight Riders bowling attack is quite a strange mix. With the fast bowlers, senior and junior, all over the bowling card off late, Varun Chakravarthy and Sunil Narine have become the spin options and among the two, the former is decidedly the better bowler. As for Kings XI Punjab, ironically, with the big names of KL Rahul and Mayank Agarwal up top, it was still left to Nicholas Pooran to battle SunRisers Hyderabad. He did so valiantly till he fell to Rashid Khan's guile -- something that Chakravarthy will find interesting.

The KKR 'mystery' spinner has been an effective part of the bowling package, right from the beginning of the IPL 2020 campaign.

He has five wickets from four matches at an economy of 7.93. His scalps include MS Dhoni and Shikhar Dhawan, so they are not to be trifled with.

His IPL career is just one more match, that he played in 2019. This year, which hasn't been kind to anyone, seems to be doing well for the Tamil Nadu bowler.

Pooran was always touted as one of the big hitters in the business, especially after his exploits in the Caribbean Premier League. In IPL 2020, he has scored 196 runs from six matches, hammering away at a strike rate of 178.18.

Overall, the West Indian has played 13 matches for 364 runs at a strike rate of 167.74.

While the Pooran-Chakravarthy face-off looks like a bit of a mismatch, don't take it lightly. Big hitters have often been found out by spinners, and this one could get interesting.

Note: All stats courtesy iplt20.com

Topics mentioned in this article

Kolkata Knight Riders Kings XI Punjab Varun Chakravarthy Nicholas Pooran IPL 2020 Kings XI Punjab vs Kolkata Knight Riders, Match 24 Cricket