IPL 2016: GL vs KXIP Playing 11 – Today's Probable Playing 11 for Gujarat Lions and Kings XI Punjab

Gujarat Lions return to Rajkot to face the Kings XI Punjab at the Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium and their fortunes couldn’t have been much different this season. While Gujarat playing their debut IPL are at the summit of the table losing only one game from the 7 matches they have played, whereas the Kings have only managed to win a single game from the 6 they have played. Languishing at the bottom the table the Kings will look to get a win over Gujarat to finally kick-start their campaign and climb up the table.

Gujarat and Punjab began their campaign facing each other at Mohali in the 3rd game the season. Punjab batting first got of to a brilliant start as both Vijay and Vohra scored big and Marcus Stionis’ big hits towards the end propelled Punajb to a score of 161 at the end of their 20 overs. The target proved to be too small on batting friendly Mohali pitch, Finch’s brilliant knock of 74 and Dinesh Karthik’s unbeaten 41 helped the Lions to achieve the target of 162 in only 17.4 overs. Gujarat hasn’t looked back since then and has gone from strength to strength in this IPL topping the table with 12 points, whereas Punjab has continued to struggle and will end their struggle when they face Gujarat again.

Let’s see how the Gujarat Lions and the Kings Xi Punjab could possibly line up for their encounter with each other.

Gujarat Lions

Batsmen: The blistering form in which both Dwayne Smith and Brendon McCullum are is just incredible. Dwayne Smith had replaced Aaron Finch in the starting 11 and in the 3 games he had started for Gujarat, the man from Barbados has scored 148 runs and two back to back half-centuries. McCullum too has been in great scoring form scoring 218 runs at a strike of 160. Raina too has been in great touch and led from the front as the captain of the Lions and will walk into bat at number 3. At number 4, Dinesh Karthik, one of the most consistent wicket keeper batsman in the Indian domestic cricket circuit and has among the runs for Gujarat too in the IPL. Ishan Kishan, who had featured in Gujarat’s last two outing hasn’t been able to impress much and Akshdeep Nath might replace him in the starting 11.

All-Rounders: Ravindra Jadeja, Dwayne Bravo and James Faulkner are the three all rounder options that Brad Hodge is likely to field against Punjab. Bravo has been impressive with the ball and his little cameos towards the end with the bat has been very valuable for Gujarat. Ravindra Jadeja might not have been his very best with bat and ball, but a player of his talent is hard to keep out of the starting 11 and James Faulkner has been very expensive with the ball, but he scored the winning runs against the Rising Pune Supergiants in Gujarat’s last encounter and has been handy with the bat on a couple of occasions.

Bowlers: Praveen Kumar and Dhawal Kulkarni will lead the pace attack for Gujarat while both of then were very expensive against the Supergiants, in their defense every bowler was for Gujarat as a certain Steve Smith single-handedly demolished their bowling unit. Young Shivil Kaushik replaced another ‘young man’, Pravin Tambe in the starting 11. The young bowler who hasn’t yet played a first class game, had caught the eye of the scouts in the Karnataka Premier League and with an action similar to Paul Adams has been impressive in his first outing for the Gujarat Lions and is likely to start against the Kings XI Punjab.

Probable Playing XI: Dwayne Smith, Brendon McCullum, Suresh Raina (C), Dinesh Karthik (wk), Akshdeep Nath, Ravindra Jadeja, Dwayne Bravo, James Faulkner, Praveen Kumar, Dhawal Kulkarni, Shivil Kaushik.

Kings XI Punjab

Batsmen: Murali Vijay, Manan Vohra and Shaun Marsh are the three batsmen who have managed to score runs and reach the 3 digits in total runs scored in this IPL. They are the only silver lining in a batting unit which had failed this season to score runs. Vijay and Vohra will open the batting for the Kings XI while Shaun Marsh will walk into bat at number 3. Murali Glen Maxwell showed signs of returning to form in Punjab’s last game against the Mumbai Indians scoring 56 runs and they Punjab fans will hope Maxwell continues to deliver against the Gujarat Lions too. Miller too showed some glimpses of his old self in a losing cause against Mumbai and the Punjab management has decided that the burden of captaincy was taking a toll on Miller’s batting abilities, so he has been relieved of the captaincy and Murali Vijay will lead Punjab against the Gujarat Lions. If Miller and Maxwell both start delivering with the bat it will be nightmare for even the best bowling sides and possibly turn the fortunes around for Kings XI. Nikhil Naik, the wicket keeper batsman from Maharastra will probably continue to start for Punjab.

All-Rounders: Axar Patel has been a regular starter for King XI and it is likely to be no different against the Gujarat Lions. The bowling all-rounder who hails from Gujarat will look to impress in Rajkot, his left arm spin and prowess with the bat will prove handy for Punjab. Rishi Dhawan who had been dropped after a single game this season might make a comeback to the side to provide some depth in batting and bowling for the Kings XI. Glen Maxwell can also roll his arm over and bowl some off-spin and might be used by Miller as a part timer.

Bowlers: Mohit and Sandeep Sharma will lead the pace attack for Punjab along with Mitchell Johnson. Both Mohit and Sandeep have been among with wickets picking up 7 and 6 wickets respectively, and had been disciplined with the bowl. Johnson, who hung up his boots this season in the international circuit has looked out of sorts with the bowl. His replacement Kyle Abbott, who started 3 games ahead of the Aussie proved to be very expensive and thus Johmson made a comeback into the side in the game against Mumbai and is likely to retain his place for the game against Gujarat and he is handy with the bat as well.

Probable Playing XI: Murali Vijay (C), Manan Vohra, Shaun Marsh, Glen Maxwell, David Miller, Nikhil Naik (wk), Axar Patel, Rishi Dhawan, Mitchell Johnson, Mohit Sharma, Sandeep Sharma.