A resurgent Kings XI Punjab will face out-of-contention Gujarat Lions at Mohali on Sunday. Punjab have registered back-to-back wins against Delhi Daredevils and Royal Challengers Bangalore.
Punjab had bundled out Daredevils for 67 and chased the target down without losing a wicket. Against Bangalore, they defended a modest 138-7 by dismissing RCB for 119 to register a 19-run win on Friday.
Punjab are fifth on the table with five wins in 10 games. They have 10 points and are looking to book their spot in the playoffs as well. For, Gujarat, who have just three wins from 11 games, making the playoffs is impossible. With their win against RCB, Punjab, who had reached the finals of the 2014 edition, have improved their chances of making it to the playoffs.
Time: 8 pm
Venue: IS Bindra Stadium, Mohali
TV: Sony Max, Sony Six, Sony ESPN and their HD Channels
Head-to-head
Played: 3
Kings XI Punjab: 2
Gujarat Lions: 1
Kings XI Punjab
- Shaun Marsh is five runs short of becoming the first player to score 1000 IPL runs in Mohali. He currently sits at 995 runs at 45.23 from 25 innings in Mohali.
- Axar Patel has picked up ten or more wickets every season since his debut in 2014. His 56 IPL wickets is the second-most by any spinner in that period, behind Yuzvendra Chahal’s 69.
Kings XI Punjab squad: Glenn Maxwell (C), David Miller, Manan Vohra, Hashim Amla, Shaun Marsh, Darren Sammy, Wriddhiman Saha, Nikhil Naik, Ishant Sharma, Armaan Jaffer, Martin Guptill, Eoin Morgan, Rinku Singh, Sandeep Sharma, Arman Jaffer, Anureet Singh, Mohit Sharma, KC Cariappa, Pradeep Sahu, Swapnil Singh, T Natrajan, Matt Henry, Varun Aaron, Axar Patel, Marcus Stoinis, Gurkeerat Mann, Rahul Tewatia.
“We have got the winning momentum going and now we need to be consistent and win our next four matches to reach the playoffs. Gujarat are a great team. The way Suresh Raina and Dinesh Karthik played against DD shows their class. Our batsmen like Hashim Amla, Shaun Marsh, Martin Guptill and Manan Vohra too have done well in the past,” said Sandeep Singh.
Gujarat Lions
- The Gujarat Lions have batted first on six occasions this season and have ended on the losing side on each of those occasions.
- The Lions are the only team with an overall (bowling) economy rate of more than nine; their overall economy rate this season is 9.30.
Gujarat Lions squad: Suresh Raina (C), Akshadeep Nath, Basil Thampi, Shubham Agarwal, Dwayne Smith, Chirag Suri, James Faulkner, Aaron Finch, Manpreet Gony, Ishan Kishan, Ravindra Jadeja, Shadab Jakati, Dinesh Karthik, Dhaval Kulkarni, Praveen Kumar, Brandon McCullum, Pradeep Sangwan, Jason Roy, Jaydev Shah, Shelly Shaurya, Nathusingh, Tejas Baroka and Andrew Tye.