Rajkot’s Saurastra Cricket Association Stadium, home of Gujarat Lions, has been the best ground for batting so far in this edition of the Indian Premier League. The true wicket has seen plenty of runs so far, and will most likely see the tally increase further when batting-heavy Kings XI Punjab pay a visit on Sunday.
Some of the finest exponents of T20 batting will showcase their skills. The likes of Suresh Raina, Brendon McCullum, and Aaron Finch will be aiming to match the likes of Glenn Maxwell, Hashim Amla, and Marcus Stoinis stroke for stroke on what promises to be another belter of a track.
On paper, there is not much to choose between the two teams even though Punjab, despite being on a losing streak, are placed fifth with four points while Gujarat are seventh with the same number of points.
But the Gujarat Lions will take a lot of heart from their win against the formidable Kolkata Knight Riders at the Eden Gardens with skipper Raina finally showing why he is revered in the shortest format.
Manan Vohra is expected to return for Kings XI after missing their previous game through illness. Vohra had scored a fighting 95 in a losing cause against Sunrisers Hyderabad.
Time: 4 pm
Venue: Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium, Rajkot
TV: Sony Max, Sony Six, Sony ESPN and their HD channels
Results in 2016:
Played: 2
GL won: 1
Kings XI won: 1
Gujarat Lions
- Gujarat Lions have struggled to take wickets in this edition. In the six games they have played so far, they have managed to scalp only 20 wickets.
- Dinesh Karthik is one dismissal away from becoming the first wicketkeeper in the IPL to complete 100 dismissals.
“It goes as per the situation because today if you have noticed that instead of Andrew Tye, Faulkner played, so that gives bit more strength to batting lower down (the order). If Faulkner’s playing and if we keep both Smith and Finch back, we can open the batting with Ishan Kishan.”
- Sitanshu Kotak, Gujarat Lions assistant coach.
Squad: Suresh Raina (C), Akshadeep Nath, Shubham Agarwal, Basil Thampi, Dwayne Bravo, Chirag Suri, James Faulkner, Aaron Finch, Manpreet Gony, Ishan Kishan, Ravindra jadeja, Dhaval Kulkarni, Shivil Kaushik, Dinesh Kaushik, Praveen Kumar, Brandon McCullum, Munaf Patel, Pratham Singh, Jason Roy, Shadab Jakati, Pradeep Sangwan, Shelly Shaurya, Nathusingh, Dwayne Smith, Tejas Baroka and Andrew Tye.
Kings XI Punjab
- Both Kings XI and Gujarat have faced a torrid time with the ball this season. They are the only teams conceding more than nine runs an over.
- Kings XI’s go-to bowlers in the death - Mohit Sharma and Sandeep Sharma - have conceded more than 12 an over so far this season.
“Hashim getting a hundred was a positive. Marsh hit the ball beautifully but he found the fielders with some shots. Plenty of positives on the batting side. Bowlers are bowling well enough to create those chances.”
- Glenn Maxwell, Kings XI Punjab captain.
Squad: Glenn Maxwell (C), Darren Sammy, Hashim Amla, Shaun Marsh, Eoin Morgan, Martin Guptil, Ishant Sharma, Wriddhiman Saha, Anureet Singh, Manan Vohra, Varun Aron, David Miller, Mohit Sharma, Gurkeerat singh, Sandeep Sharma, Axar Patel, Marcus Stoinis, Matt Henry, Nikhil Nayke, Rahul Tewatia, T Natrajan, Swapnil Singh, KC Cariappa, Pradeep Sahu, Rinku Singh and Arman Jaffer.
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