Race in Visakhapatnam to not finish last

Saturday, May 21, 2016
Start time 1600 local (1030 GMT)

As the race for the playoffs intensifies, there's going to be a race at the bottom of the table too - for who will not finish last. Kings XI Punjab and Rising Pune Supergaints will kick off the weekend double-bonanza with their last games of the season. Both sides' journeys have had several similarities, but there was contrast in their respective previous matches.

Supergiants created a cavity in Delhi Daredevils' chances of qualifying with a 19-run win in a rain-hit match. Ashok Dinda's swing fetched him three wickets in a frugal spell, Adam Zampa and R Ashwin found substantial turn, and Ajinkya Rahane scored at the top, as usual. Supergiants handed an IPL debut to Deepak Chahar, and might consider giving chances to their other unused players - Ishwar Pandey, B Aparajith and Ankush Bains.

Going by form, Kings XI appear weaker, and their confidence would have been dented further after being pummelled by Royal Challengers Bangalore. Kings XI's batsmen were never the incisors of their jaw and they were blunted further by almost being bowled out in a 15-over match. Bowling had been their core competence and that too took a beating in their previous two matches. Kings XI will now need more than a root canal to rise from the bottom.

Apart from pride and the two points to play for, both teams can bring out their fearless and unrestrained games to ensure they don't finish last.

Rising Pune Supergiants WLLLW (last five matches, most recent first)
Kings XI Punjab LLWLW

Adam Zampa, in his first IPL season, has chewed his way to the top 15 wicket-takers' list despite having played just four matches. He has extracted turn, flighted the ball and hasn't given batsmen much room. He also has the only five-for of the season; his best of 6 for 19 coming against Sunrisers Hyderabad. Zampa has 11 wickets in all at an economy rate of 6.38, and has struck every seven balls. He could prove to be dangerous against Kings XI too, who have only one frontline left-handed batsman - David Miller.

Hashim Amla has batted five times in IPL 2016, but has only one substantial score. Even that 56-ball 96 was eclipsed by a solid show by the Sunrisers Hyderabad batsmen in Mohali, only five days ago. With an in-form M Vijay as his opening partner, Amla would want to end his first IPL sojourn with another strong show before heading to the West Indies for a tri-series.

After giving Chahar a chance in their previous match, Supergiants could draft in a few more of their inexperienced players, or even consider bringing back Peter Handscomb or Albie Morkel.

Rising Pune Supergiants (probable): 1 Ajinkya Rahane, 2 Usman Khawaja, 3 Saurabh Tiwary/B Aparajith, 4 George Bailey, 5 Thisara Perera, 6 MS Dhoni (capt & wk), 7 Irfan Pathan/Rajat Bhatia, 8 R Ashwin, 9 Adam Zampa, 10 Ashok Dinda 11 RP Singh/Ishant Sharma/Ishwar Pandey

As if to give competition to Supergiants' injury list, Kings XI recently bid goodbye to Glenn Maxwell and Marcus Stoinis, who are back in Australia. They could bring back Anureet Singh after KC Cariappa leaked 55 in three overs against Royal Challengers.

Kings XI Punjab (probable): 1 M Vijay (capt), 2 Hashim Amla, 3 Wriddhiman Saha (wk), 4 Farhaan Behardien, 5 Gurkeerat Singh, 6 David Miller, 7 Kyle Abbott, 8 Axar Patel, 9 Mohit Sharma 10 Sandeep Sharma, 11 Anureet Singh/KC Cariappa

Cyclone Roanu, which is causing devastation in Sri Lanka, is hovering around the Bay of Bengal, not far from Visakhapatnam. Even though the sun is expected to come out on Saturday, rain interruptions cannot be ruled out.