Abu Dhabi: Their play-off chances hanging in balance, Kings XI Punjab will leave no stone unturned as they take on Chennai Super Kings in a must-win Indian Premier League game on Sunday.
KXIP's chances of a top four finish took a serious hit after Rajasthan Royals handed them a seven-wicket loss, snapping their impressive five match-winning streak.
KXIP will now have to win against CSK to remain in the contention for the playoffs with 14 points. Their net run-rate is -0.133 which can work in their favour.
CSK, already out of the reckoning for the first time ever, will aim to end their dismal campaign on a positive note.
The Mahendra Singh Dhoni-led team, languishing at the bottom of the points table, head in to the clash after notching up back-to-back wins over RCB and Kolkata Knight Riders.
With skipper Rahul, the leading run-scorer of the tournament, and the flamboyant Chris Gayle coming good and the marauding Nicholas Pooran to follow at No 4, KXIP will fancy their chances at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium.
It remains to be seen if Mayank Agarwal, who has missed three games, returns to the side.
KXIP's bowling has been instrumental in their recent wins. However, against the Royals they leaked runs and were unable to pick wickets and skipper Rahul will hope his bowlers will be on top of their game against a CSK side, which cruised to a 10-wicket win in their previous meeting.
For CSK, 23-year-old Ruturaj Gaikwad has shown a lot of spark, notching up back-to-back fifties to set up the wins against RCB and KKR. Ravindra Jadeja has been in fantastic form, smashing boundaries and sixes towards the end of the innings.
The CSK bowling unit, boosted by the inclusion of New Zealand spinner Mitchell Santer, has done well in the previous two outings and will look to keep the momentum going.
Chennai Super Kings full squad: MS Dhoni, Imran Tahir, Lungi Ngidi, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Shane Watson, Ambati Rayudu, Murali Vijay, Kedar Jadhav, Ravindra Jadeja, Deepak Chahar, Piyush Chawla, N Jagadeesan, Mitchell Santner, KM Asif, Shardul Thakur, R Sai Kishore, Faf du Plessis, Monu Kumar, Dwayne Bravo, Josh Hazlewood, Sam Curran, Karn Sharma.
Kings XI Punjab full squad: KL Rahul (Captain), Chris Gayle, Mayank Agarwal, Karun Nair, Sarfaraz Khan, Mandeep Singh, Sheldon Cottrell, Ishan Porel, Ravi Bishnoi, Mohammed Shami, Mujeeb ur Rahman, Arshdeep Singh, Hardus Viljoen, M Ashwin, J Suchith, Harpreet Brar, Darshan Nalkande, Glenn Maxwell, James Nee
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