Gujarat Lions vs KXIP: Preview, team news and likely XIs
- Gujarat Lions outshone Kolkata Knight Riders in their last match.
- KXIP have lost four on the bounce and are desperate to get back to winning ways.
FollowGujarat Lions (GL) will have their noses in front when they will take on a low-on-morale Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) side at the Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Rajkot. Suresh Raina and co. are coming into this fixture after a superb win over the two-time Indian Premier League (IPL) champions, Kolkata Knight Riders.
Raina is back in form and is currently the second highest run-getter for the Lions. This is a good sign for them as they are on track to resurrect their IPL 2017 campaign, which started off on a horrible note. Brendon McCullum has also been in superb touch as the veteran has notched up 258 runs already.
KXIP, on the other hand, need to work on their bowling. Their bowlers have let them down big time. They were thrashed by Mumbai Indians in their last game despite scoring 198 runs. Mumbai Indians got over the line with almost 5 overs to spare. That is something which has not been impressing Glenn Maxwell.
The problem with KXIP is that they have not been able to find their correct combination as of yet and that has hurt them the most. They will have to buckle up and come up with a better show against Gujarat Lions to bounce back on Sunday.
Likely XIs:
Gujarat Lions: Brendon McCullum, Aaron Finch, Suresh Raina (C), Dinesh Karthik (wk), Ishan Kishan, Ravindra Jadeja, James Faulkner, Dwayne Smith/Andrew Tye, Dhawal Kulkarni, Praveen Kumar, Basil Thampi.
Kings XI Punjab: Hashim Amla, Shaun Marsh, Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Glenn Maxwell (C), Marcus Stoinis, Gurkeerat Singh, Axar Patel, Swapnil Singh, Mohit Sharma, Varun Aaron, Sandeep Sharma.
