It has been a late revival for Kings XI Punjab who have won their last three matches in a row and would aim to continue on their winning run when they take on the Sunrisers Hyderabad in IPL 2020 on Saturday. Both the sides are back in contention for a top-4 spot after KKR dropped points against Mumbai Indians earlier this week.
The KXIP batting order, which was overtly reliant on their opening order of Mayank Agarwal and KL Rahul, is now stepping up collectively with the arrival of Chris Gayle, as well as Nicholas Pooran and Glenn Maxwell slowly getting back to run-scoring form.
The SRH, meanwhile, gained a big boost when they beat Rajasthan Royals earlier this week and would aim to continue on their momentum when they face KL Rahul's men.
It has been an erratic season for KXIP so far despite having the tournament's top two run-getters in openers Rahul (540) and Mayank Agarwal (398) in its ranks.
But the successful return of Gayle has been a welcome relief for KXIP as it reduced the burden on the shoulders of its star openers, especially allowing Rahul to play more freely.
Jimmy Neesham's inclusion has given some depth to KXIP's batting as well bowling unit led by the experienced Mohammed Shami.
SRH too find itself in similar position and needs to win its remaining four matches to seal a play-off berth.
The side managed to keep itself in the play-off hunt with a confidence-boosting eight-wicket win over Rajasthan Royals on Thursday night after three consecutive defeats.
And the David Warner-led side can't slip a bit from hereon if it wishes to stay alive in the tournament.
The positive for SRH is that despite Warner and Jonny Bairstow departing early in the 155-run chase against RR in their last match, young Manish Pandey (83) and Vijay Shankar (52) rose to the occasion and shared an unbeaten 140-run partnership to secure a comfortable win.
Jason Holder's inclusion has added firepower to SRH's bowling attack as the West Indian picked up three wickets for 33 runs against RR.
But it's high time that SRH's young guns -- Priyam Garg, Abdul Samad and T Natarajan -- own up some responsibility.
Teams (from):
Sunrisers Hyderabad: David Warner (C), Jonny Bairstow, Kane Williamson, Manish Pandey, Shreevats Goswami, Virat Singh, Priyam Garg, Wriddhiman Saha, Abdul Samad, Vijay Shankar, Mohammad Nabi, Rashid Khan, Jason Holder, Abhishek Sharma, B Sandeep, Sanjay Yadav, Fabian Allen, Prithvi Raj Yarra, Khaleel Ahmed, Sandeep Sharma, Shahbaz Nadeem, Siddharth Kaul, Billy Stanlake, T Natarajan, Basil Thampi.
Kings XI Punjab: KL Rahul (C), Harpreet Brar, Ishan Porel, Mandeep Singh, James Neesham, Tajinder Singh, Chris Jordan, Karun Nair, Deepak Hooda, Ravi Bishnoi, Arshdeep Singh, Glenn Maxwell, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Sarfaraz Khan, Sheldon Cottrell, Mayank Agarwal, Mohammed Shami, Darshan Nalkande, Nicholas Pooran, Chris Gayle, Murugan Ashwin, Jagadeesha Suchith, Krishnappa Gowtham, Hardus Viljoen, Simran Singh.
