The Kings XI Punjab will be looking to get their IPL 2016 campaign back on track as they take on a resurgent Sunrisers Hyderabad side at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad on Saturday. Punjab have been on the receiving end of 3 losses in 4 matches with their only win coming against new franchise Rising Pune Supergiants. SRH, however, have recovered from a poor start to register consecutive wins and reach the 4th position on the points table. It is an important match for both teams as the Sunrisers are looking to stick to their winning run while KXIP are still trying to find their feet in the tournament.
Here's a look at how Kings XI Punjab may line up against Sunrisers Hyderabad:
Batting
The KXIP batting has been just one of its concerns in the 2016 edition of the IPL so far. The openers, Murali Vijay and Manan Vohra, have been the only bright spots for the Punjab side with 129 and 122 runs respectively. However, they have been guilty of throwing their wicket away after getting set.
The dismal form of swashbuckling batsman Glenn Maxwell and skipper David Miller has been their greatest worry. Wriddhiman Saha, too, has been a big disappointment with the bat and has failed to emulate his form from the 2014 edition. Shaun Marsh started badly but recovered well to score a fifty against KKR.
The batting has to come good for KXIP to claw their way back into the tournament and produce a credible performance.
All-rounders
Kings XI Punjab have quite a few good all-rounders in the form of Marcus Stoinis, Axar Patel, Gurkeerat Singh Mann, Rishi Dhawan and Maxwell. Stoinis played just one game and did quite decently with the bat; however, he did not make much of an impression with the ball. The likes of Gurkeerat and Dhawan are yet to play their first game this year while Axar Patel has not come good with either bat or ball.
The Punjab side will need to use their pool of all-rounders in a better manner to get the results in their favour.
Bowling
It has not been a great tournament so far for the Kings XI Punjab in terms of their bowling either. Opening bowler Sandeep Sharma has easily been the standout performer among the KXIP bowlers with 4 wickets in as many matches at an economy of slightly over 6. Mohit Sharma has been decent but hasn't made too much impact.
Among the spinners, little known leggie Pardeep Sahu has been their best bet with 3 wickets. Although Axar Patel also has 3 wickets to his name, he has been far from impressive and will need to improve on his performance.
If they want to get back to winning ways in the 2016 IPL, KXIP will have to work on their bowling.
Probable Playing XI – Murali Vijay, Manan Vohra, Shaun Marsh, David Miller (captain), Glenn Maxwell, Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Rishi Dhawan, Axar Patel, Pardeep Sahu, Sandeep Sharma, Mohit Sharma.
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