Rising Pune Supergiant win and they get a chance to take two digs at the finals and for Kings XI Punjab they have to win and the best thing is they are in good form. This is the one game that will hold keen interest on the final day of the group stages, as the other match is a sheer dead rubber. Last time when the two teams met at Indore, it was Glenn Maxwell’s breathtaking 44 that took KXIP over the line, but this time RPS would be keeping nothing to chance. It’s 2-1 in favour of Kings XI.
Kings XI are without Eoin Morgan, Hashim Amla and David Miller while Pune are without Faf du Plessis and Imran Tahir, all of whom are away on international duty. RPS would be hoping MSD shows them the way that will be great for the team going into the backend of the tournament.
And if, a no-result happens, it will carry Pune through – at No. 3 – and knock Kings XI out. Kings XI have scored over 50 runs in the last five overs of each of their last four games. They had done so only three times in their first eight matches this IPL, which means they are headed the right direction.
Likely XI:
Rising Pune Supergiant: 1 Rahul Tripathi, 2 Ajinkya Rahane, 3 Steven Smith (capt), 4 Manoj Tiwary, 5 MS Dhoni (wk), 6 Ben Stokes, 7 Dan Christian, 8 Washington Sundar, 9 Shardul Thakur, 10 Jaydev Unadkat, 11 Adam Zampa
Kings XI Punjab: 1 Martin Guptill, 2 Manan Vohra, 3 Shaun Marsh, 4 Glenn Maxwell (capt), 5 Wriddhiman Saha (wk), 6 Axar Patel, 7 Rahul Tewatia, 8 Swapnil Singh, 9 Matt Henry, 10 Mohit Sharma, 11 Sandeep Sharma
