Will Chris Gayle return as struggling Kings XI Punjab face rising Kolkata Knight Riders?

Having managed a solitary win in six games, the heat, both literally and figuratively, will be on the Kings XI Punjab when they run into the Kolkata Knight Riders on Saturday afternoon in Abu Dhabi. Against the Sunrisers Hyderabad on Thursday, they beefed up their bowling attack and threw left-arm seamer Arshdeep Singh into the death, but they still ended up conceding 201. The move also stretched their tail, leaving them with four potential No.11s - and Mohammed Shami - in their last five. Their coach Anil Kumble revealed during the game that the team management had planned to bring in Chris Gayle, but a bout of food poisoning ultimately ruled him out of the XI. If he recovers in time, he is likely to replace Glenn Maxwell, who has laboured to 48 runs in six innings at an average of 12 and strike rate of 85.71.

Gayle's return might not necessarily give the Kings XI the balance that they're searching for, but it could ease some pressure off captain KL Rahul, who has started slowly and then struggled to accelerate this IPL. Does the T20 legend still have it in him to deal with the fiery pace and bounce of Pat Cummins, who usually bowls three overs in the powerplay for the Knight Riders? The 41-year-old had pulled out of the CPL, for personal reasons and hasn't played any competitive cricket since the Bangladesh Premier League in January.

The Knight Riders, on the contrary, seem to have identified their best XI and are sitting in the top half of the points table. This, despite Dinesh Karthik and Sunil Narine, the opener, not quite hitting full tilt, and Kuldeep Yadav being left out or not bowling his full quota when he's in the XI. Against the Super Kings, Narine entered at No. 4 and prevented MS Dhoni from using Ravindra Jadeja. If the Knight Riders once again opt to bat Narine in the middle order, then he and Eoin Morgan could make life difficult for Ravi Bishnoi and Singh in the middle and end overs.

Kings XI Punjab: 1 KL Rahul (capt), 2 Chris Gayle/Glenn Maxwell, 3 Mayank Agarwal, 4 Prabhsimran Singh (wk), 5 Nicholas Pooran, 6 Mandeep Singh, 7 Mujeeb Ur Rahman, 8 Ravi Bishnoi, 9 Mohammed Shami, 10 Sheldon Cottrell, 11 Arshdeep Singh

Kolkata Knight Riders: 1 Rahul Tripathi, 2 Shubman Gill, 3 Nitish Rana, 4 Eoin Morgan, 5 Andre Russell, 6 Dinesh Karthik (capt&wk), 7 Sunil Narine, 8 Pat Cummins, 9 Kamlesh Nagarkoti, 10 Shivam Mavi, 11 Varun Chakravarthy