On a roll with back-to-back wins, a resurgent Kings XI Punjab will look to go all guns blazing against down and out Gujarat lions here on Sunday to keep their IPl play-off hopes alive.
In the eight-team competition, Punjab are placed at number five spot with five wins and ten points from 10 games, while Gujarat lions have just three wins from 11 games with six points.
With their win against RCB, Punjab, who had reached the finals of the 2014 edition, have improved their chances of making it to the playoffs.
Hashim Amla has been their highest run-scorer with 316 runs. Martin Guptill, Shaun Marsh, Manan Vohra, Wriddhiman Saha, Axar Patel — all have chipped in from time to time but they need to be more consistent to lend depth to KXIP batting.
For Punjab, the form of their skipper Glenn Maxwell has been a cause of concern.
Pacer Sandeep Sharma's brilliant three-wicket haul blew away RCB's top-order to set up the win for Punjab Friday night and he is their best bowler.
Seamers Varun Aaron and Mohit Sharma have the ability to do a good job, while spinner Axar Patel has proved himself with 13 wickets so far in the season.
Gujarat lions, on the other hand, are out of contention and they are struggling at the second last position.
The lions are coming into the match following consecutive losses. They have also suffered a body blow losing their opener Brendon McCullum to injury.
Skipper Suresh Raina and Dinesh Karthik have done bulk of their scoring and with the likes of Ishan Kishan, Aaron Finch, and Dwayne Smith in their line-up, Gujarat have the ability to tear apart even the strongest of the bowling attack.
But more often than not, it is their inexperienced bowling unit which has cost the side dearly. The likes of Shardul Thakur, James Faulkner, Basil Thampi and Ravindra Jadeja have failed to live upto the expectations of the side.