IPL 2016, RPS vs KXIP Playing 11: Probable XI for Rising Pune Supergiants and Kings XI Punjab

The 53rd match of the VIVO IPL 2016 will be played at the Dr. Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium in Visakhapatnam and will feature Rising Pune Supergiants and Kings XI Punjab. Both Pune and Punjab have crashed out of the race for the playoffs and occupy the 7th and 8th spots on the points table respectively. RPS, who are playing their first IPL this year, have suffered due to injuries to some of their big players. KXIP, on the other hand, have been struggling with poor form and also had their fair share of injury woes towards the later half of the tournament. Although the result of the match will not make much of a difference to the campaigns of the two teams, they will be wanting to finish the 2016 IPL on a high.

Here's the team that is likely to represent Rising Pune Supergiants:

Batting

Ajinkya Rahane has been the star in the batting department for RPS and has played a stellar role in the absence of some of his team's top batsmen due to injury. Rahane has scored 461 runs so far at an average of 46.10 and has as many as 6 half-centuries under his belt. Skipper MS Dhoni may not have been at his best in the tournament but he has managed to register a tally of 220 runs in 11 innings.

George Bailey and Usman Khawaja, who have been drafted to the squad as replacements, have failed to make much of an impact with the bat. Saurabh Tiwary, on the other hand, managed to do well in a couple of matches but could not perform consistently over a period of time.

All-rounders

Sri Lankan all-rounder Thisara Perera has put on a credible performance for the Supergiants in the 2016 IPL. Perera has scored more than 100 runs at a strike rate of more than 160 and picked up 8 wickets in the 11 matches he has played. Other all-rounders like Albie Morkel and Irfan Pathan have not been provided ample opportunities in the tournament.

Bowling

Australian leg-spinner Adam Zampa has been sensational in the 4 matches he has played thus far and is currently RPS' leading wicket-taker with 11 wickets. Zampa recorded figures of 6 for 19, which is the best bowling performance in this IPL. Pacer Ashok Dinda has also been quite impressive for his 10 wickets from 8 games.

Ace off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin has been a disappointment with the ball with just 6 wickets in the ongoing season. IPL debutant Murugan Ashwin had been doing well in the initial stages of the tournament but his performance has gone down in the last few matches. Medium Rajat Bhatia put on a decent show this year with 6 wickets and an economy of 7.17.

Probable Playing XI

Ajinkya Rahane, Usman Khawaja, Saurabh Tiwary, George Bailey, MS Dhoni (c) (wk), Baba Aparajith, Thisara Perera, Ravichandran Ashwin, Adam Zampa, Ashok Dinda, Ishwar Pandey.

Kings XI Punjab have had yet another disappointing season

Here's the likely line-up for Kings XI Punjab:

Batting

Skipper Murali Vijay has been the top performer in his team as far as their batting is concerned. The Indian Test opener has 394 runs from 13 innings including 4 half-centuries. Wicket-keeper batsman Wriddhiman Saha has been in decent form with 267 runs in the tournament; however, he did struggle during the initial stages of the tournament.

Top guns Glenn Maxwell and David Miller had a poor season this year and the former was forced out due to injury as well. Hashim Amla, who replaced Shaun Marsh in the squad, has played 5 innings so far and the 96 he scored against Sunrisers Hyderabad is the highest by any KXIP player this season. Overall, Punjab's batting has failed to deliver in this edition of the IPL.

All-rounders

Among the KXIP all-rounders, only Marcus Stoinis managed to create some kind of impression in the 7 matches he played but he, too, had to leave towards the latter stages of the 2016 IPL due to injury. Axar Patel did better with the ball than he did with the bat and could not quite live up to the all-rounder tag.

Bowling

The Kings XI Punjab bowling attack has been the most impressive thing about them in the 9th edition of the IPL. The pace bowling pair of Sandeep Sharma and Mohit Sharma have bowled brilliantly and claimed 14 and 12 wickets respectively. It is unfortunate that their team is languishing at the bottom of the table despite their stellar effort.

Patel has also been quite good for his 12 wickets and is the only bowler to have taken a hat-trick in this year's IPL. Among other bowlers, only Australian Marcus Stoinis did decently with 8 wickets.

Probable Playing XI

Murali Vijay (c), Hashim Amla, Wriddhiman Saha (wk), David Miller, Gurkeerat Singh Mann, Axar Patel, Farhaan Behardien, KC Cariappa, Kyle Abbott, Sandeep Sharma, Mohit Sharma.