Kings XI's hopes hinge on Mumbai defeat
Kings XI Punjab need to beat Chennai Super Kings to have a shot at making the playoffs, but that result matters only if Mumbai Indians have lost to Delhi Daredevils
Big Picture
In the news
Previous meeting
Likely XIs
Strategy punt
- Kings XI have a strong case for opening with spin, perhaps even from both ends. Ambati Rayudu has scored 7 off 8 balls against Mujeeb, 26 off 31 balls against Yuvraj Singh, and 64 off 57 balls against Ashwin, while perishing to him four times in 10 innings. Rayudu has fared slightly better against Axar Patel, but the allrounder has dominated Shane Watson, whom he has dismissed five times in as many innings while giving away only 25 runs in 28 balls.
- Against MS Dhoni, though, Kings XI would do well to keep their spinners away. In T20s, Dhoni has 63 off 37 balls against Axar, 59 off 36 against Yuvraj, 51 off 37 against Gayle, and 16 off 11 against Ashwin. And he hasn't been dismissed by any of them.
Stats that matter
- For a must-win match, Kings XI wouldn't be too encouraged by their overall record at Pune: one victory and five defeats in six matches.
- Harbhajan Singh is set to play his 250th T20 match. He will become the fifth Indian to the mark, after Dhoni, Suresh Raina, Rohit Sharma and Gautam Gambhir.
- Dhoni is nine runs away from 4000 runs in the IPL. Dhoni is eighth on the IPL charts, and is just behind Gayle who is six away from the landmark. Virat Kohli is the all-time leader, with 4944 runs in 163 matches.
- If he goes past 15, Rayudu will become only the second CSK batsman to breach 600 runs in a season. Michael Hussey piled up 733 runs in 17 innings in 2013.
- Tye and Mujeeb have accounted for 53.5% of all the wickets taken by Kings XI's bowlers. The figures are similarly lopsided for the batsmen. Rahul has amassed 652 runs himself, while the rest of their top seven batsmen have contributed 588 runs.
- Four of the five bowlers with the highest economy rate in the last five overs this IPL belong to these two teams. Mohit has been the worst among them, going at 12.4 an over, followed by Dwayne Bravo (11.7), Chris Woakes (11.5), Mujeeb (11.0), and Shardul Thakur (10.9).
Fantasy pick
- KL Rahul. Do you even need a reason?
- You may need one to pick Harbhajan, though, so here you go: Harbhajan is likely to give you early wickets. He has given away 111 runs off 122 balls against Gayle and dismissed him four times. Against Rahul, his record is 31 runs in 33 balls for two dismissals, and against Karun Nair he has conceded 20 off 21 balls for four dismissals. Moreover, in T20s in Pune, Harbhajan has seven wickets in seven matches with an economy rate of 5.8.
Quotes
Kings XI Punjab coach Brad Hodge
Akshay Gopalakrishnan is a sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo