Their campaign back on track with a hat-trick of wins, Kings XI Punjab will take on another resurgent team – Sunrisers Hyderabad – on Saturday in a must-win IPL game for the two well-matched sides.
Both KXIP and SRH have garnered eight points apiece after 10 games, but the Hyderabad outfit is a rung ahead in the eight-team standings, on the fifth spot by virtue of a better net run rate.
And both teams need to win their remaining four games to guarantee their place in the playoffs.
It has been a terrific turnaround, especially for KXIP after a slow start to the tournament.
All the KXIP results and match highlights
After the initial hiccups, KXIP got its campaign back on track with three consecutive wins – over mighty Delhi Capitals, Mumbai Indians and Royal Challengers Bangalore and the KL Rahul-led side would be hoping to carry the winning momentum forward to break into the top four.
While KXIP’s batting is in the safe hands of skipper Rahul, Mayank Agarwal, Chris Gayle and Nicholas Pooran, the shaky form of Glenn Maxwell remains a concern.
It has been an erratic season for KXIP so far despite having two of the top three run-getters in openers Rahul (540) and Mayank Agarwal (398) in its ranks.
But the successful return of Gayle has come as a welcome relief for KXIP as it reduced the burden on the shoulders of its star openers, especially allowing Rahul to play more freely.
All the SRH results and match highlights
Jimmy Neesham’’s inclusion has given some depth to KXIP’’s batting as well bowling unit led by the experienced Mohammed Shami.
SRH, too, finds itself in a similar position and needs to win its remaining four matches to seal a play-off berth.
The side managed to keep itself in the playoff hunt with a confidence-boosting eight-wicket win over Rajasthan Royals on Thursday night after three consecutive defeats.
And the David Warner-led side can’t even slip a bit from hereon if it wishes to stay alive in the tournament.
The positive for SRH is that despite Warner and Jonny Bairstow departing early in the 155-run chase against RR in their last match, Manish Pandey (83) and Vijay Shankar (52) rose to the occasion and shared an unbeaten 140-run partnership to secure a comfortable win.
Jason Holder’s inclusion has added firepower to SRH’s bowling attack as the West Indian picked up three wickets for 33 runs against RR.
But it’s high time that SRH’s young guns – Priyam Garg, Abdul Samad and T Natarajan – own up to some responsibility.
Head-to-Head
| Matches | KXIP wins | SRH wins |
|---|---|---|
| 15 | 11 | 4 |
KXIP squad
| Batsmen | Bowlers | All-rounders | Wicketkeepers |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chris Gayle | Mohammed Shami | K Gowtham | KL Rahul |
| Mayank Agarwal | Mujeeb ur Rahman | Glenn Maxwell | Nicholas Pooran |
| Karun Nair | Arshdeep Singh | Deepak Hooda | Prabhsimran Singh |
| Sarfaraz Khan | Hardus Viljoen | James Neesham | |
| Mandeep Singh | M Ashwin | Chris Jordan | |
| J Suchith | Tajinder Singh | ||
| Harpreet Brar | |||
| Darshan Nalkande | |||
| Sheldon Cottrell | |||
| Ravi Bishnoi | |||
| Ishan Porel |
SRH squad
| Batsmen | Bowlers | All-rounders | Wicketkeepers |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kane Williamson | Rashid Khan | Vijay Shankar | Jonny Bairstow |
| David Warner | Bhuvneshwar Kumar | Mohammad Nabi | Wriddhiman Saha |
| Manish Pandey | Khaleel Ahmed | Abhishek Sharma | Shreevats Goswami |
| Priyam Garg | Sandeep Sharma | Abdul Samad | |
| Virat Singh | Siddarth Kaul | Fabian Allen | |
| Billy Stanlake | Sandeep Bavanaka | ||
| T Natarajan | Sanjay Yadav | ||
| Shahbaz Nadeem | |||
| Basil Thampi |
With inputs from PTI
Match starts 7.30 pm IST and will be broadcast live on Star Sports network / Disney+ Hotstar
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