For Kings XI Punjab, the game against Chennai Super Kings is do-or-die. (Source: BCCI)
For Ravichandran Ashwin-led Kings XI Punjab, it has been a season of two halves. On the back of some explosive hitting from KL Rahul and Chris Gayle, and economical bowling from Mujeeb Zadran, KXIP went on to pick up a few wins and rose to the top half of the table. But with straight losses in a row, the fortunes have completely changed for Punjab. Five teams are still in contention for making it through the playoffs, and KXIP are hanging by a thin thread.
The 10-wicket loss to RCB a few days ago has really lowered KXIP’s Net Run Rate, and they are currently in the 7th position with an NRR of -0.490. When Punjab travels to Pune to take on Chennai Super Kings on Sunday in their final round robin game, KXIP not only need to win, but they also need to win by a huge margin.
The key players for KXIP will be the opening batsman KL Rahul, who currently holds the Orange Cap for most runs in the tournament (652 runs) and Andrew Tye, who is the holder of the Purple Cap with 24 wickets. Both the players have chipped in with their efforts in the last few games, but have failed to take their side to the win. But with a Playoff spot on the line, Rahul and Tye, will hope that they both can take their teams to victory.
Ashwin will hope that the middle-order, comprising of Karun Nair, KL Rahul, Marcus Stoinis, Mayank Agarwal, Yuvraj Singh and Manoj Tiwary, will finally deliver in the crucial match and give their side the much-needed oomph factor in the batting line up. The injury to Mujeeb Zadran may hurt their side, as in his absence, KXIP have struggled to control the run rate.
Chennai Super Kings have already qualified in the playoffs, but have appeared a bit jittery in the final few games. The MS Dhoni-led side suffered a shock defeat at the hands of bottom-placed Delhi Daredevils on Friday. Coming in to face KXIP, CSK will look to earn a win to build their confidence ahead of the Playoffs.
Ambati Rayudu, who has scored 585 runs throughout this season, will be the key player for the side and would look to counter the pace of Andrew Tye. The opening batsman has been brilliant against fast bowlers, and could counter Tye’s lethal attack. Shane Watson, who has scored 430 runs this season, is another strong talent in CSK’s arsenal. The return of Deepak Chahar from injury has given another edge to CSK’s bowling line up and he could also turn things around for his side.
Chennai Super Kings: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (C), Suresh Raina, Ravindra Jadeja, Faf Du Plessis, Harbhajan Singh, Dwayne Bravo, Shane Watson, Ambati Rayadu, Deepak Chahar, K M Asif, Kanish Seth, Lungi Ngidi, Dhruv Shorey, Murali Vijay, Sam Billings, Mark Wood, Kshtiz Sharma, Monu Kumar, Chaitanya Bishnoi, Imran Tahir, Karn Sharma, Shardul Thakur, N Jagadeesan, David Willy
Kings XI Punjab: Ravichandran Ashwin (captain), Chris Gayle, Aaron Finch, KL Rahul, Karun Nair, Mohit Sharma, Mujeeb ur Rahman, Barinder Sran, David Miller, Andrew Tye, Ankit Rajpoot, Axar Patel, Akshdeep Nath, Mayank Agarwal, Manoj Tiwary, Yuvraj Singh, Marcus Stoinis, Mayank Dagar