IPL 2019: Kings XI Punjab's probable playing XI against Mumbai Indians

The first week of IPL 2019 has been nothing short of exciting and has had very good performances with both bat and ball, a couple of controversial moments and 8 amazing cricket matches.

To kick start the proceedings for week 2, the Kings XI Punjab will host the Mumbai Indians for an evening game at the IS Bindra Stadium at Mohali at 4:00 pm. Punjab come off a crushing loss to the Kolkata Knight Riders while Mumbai got their first win of the campaign over RCB in a thriller.

Both the sides look quite balanced and let's take a look at what KXIP's possible playing XI could be for the opener.

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KL Rahul and Chris Gayle will continue at the top for Punjab. Rahul's failures have started to become frustrating and the talented batsman will want to get some runs against Mumbai and replicate his form from last season. Rahul will mostly keep wickets for this match.

Gayle, meanwhile will want to settle in before going big and work on his weakness, which is the short ball directed towards his body which teams have been using for some time.

Mayank Agarwal has been doing a great job batting at No.3 for Punjab and is expected to continue in that position.

Sarfaraz Khan has been good but his inconsistency could affect the team. He had a great start to the season against Rajasthan but couldn't replicate the same against KKR. He will be persisted with as the floater but KXIP will be hoping for better returns in the coming games.

Mandeep Singh and David Miller are expected to retain their positions in the middle order after putting on a decent show with the bat despite losing the match. Mandeep will be a 6th bowling option for Ashwin to use.

Sam Curran is expected to return to the side due to the average performance from Hardus Viljoen. He was pretty expensive against Punjab but he is a very good all-rounder and Punjab need the extra batsman in the side. He will be a good opening bowler and must be used properly.

Ravichandran Ashwin and Varun Chakravarthy are expected to continue as the side's lead spinners though Mujeeb deserves a look-in. Varun made a terrific comeback on his IPL debut and will certainly be backed for better performances.

Ashwin will look to bowl better and give the home fans a special win in the first home game this season.

Andrew Tye will surely play and will be the side's lead death bowler. He is the go-to bowler for Ashwin when he needs to contain batsmen or pick up wickets. He's an essential part of this side and will want to curtail the Mumbai batsmen.

Mohammed Shami will consider himself unlucky after dismissing Andre Russell with a beautiful yorker only for the ball to be called a no-ball due to failure to follow the field restrictions. He has been very good with the ball and has bowled with good pace. He can get some early swing and is a natural wicket-taker.

Probable Playing XI: KL Rahul(WK), Chris Gayle, Mayank Agarwal, Sarfaraz Khan, Mandeep Singh, David Miller, Sam Curran, Ravichandran Ashwin, Varun Chakravarthy, Mohammed Shami and Andrew Tye.