Steve Smith, Ben Stokes, MS Dhoni, Ajinkya Rahane and Imran Tahir will be the key players again as the Rising Pune Supergiant look for their second consecutive win in IPL 2017. Kings XI Punjab are the team standing in their way in Indore on Saturday, with the perennial underachievers looking to make a winning start to their campaign in this season's Indian Premier League.
RPS, playing at home in their first match, got the better of the Mumbai Indians in the Maharashtra derby on Thursday, with Smith, again, leading the way with the bat.
Rahane looked pretty good with the willow too and while RPS scrambled home in the final over, there were quite a few chinks that came out from that match.
Chief of them being the fast bowling.
Ashok Dinda had an absolute nightmare, giving away 30 runs in the last over of the Mumbai Indians innings.
Deepak Chahar only bowled two overs, conceding 21 runs.
That means, if there is going to be a change in the playing XI for RPS, it will be in the Indian fast bowling.
Shardul Thakur, Jaydev Unadkat and Ishwar Pandey are the options, for Dinda, who should never be bowling the final over of an innings.
RPS decided to keep Faf Du Plessis on the bench for the opener, in order to play both their overseas spinners – Adam Zampa and Tahir. While Tahir justified his selection with a three-for, Zampa, who took one wicket in the match against MI, was their leading wicket-taker last season, so it does look like Du Plessis might have to warm the benches for a little while longer.
Stokes is not going to be dropped and Smith is their captain and most important player.
Kings XI embark on another new era of captaincy, with Glenn Maxwell taking over the reins.
Maxwell has no top-flight experience of captaining a team, so it really is heading into the unknown.
The Australian takes over from David Miller, who stepped down as skipper last season, and Murali Vijay, who did reasonably well in IPL 2016, but will miss the entire 2017 edition through injury.
Kings XI Punjab have three overseas opening options in Shaun Marsh, Hashim Amla and Martin Guptill, with the latter out for a while through injury.
Maxwell and Miller are definite inclusions, and so is Marcus Stoinis, after his impressive performances last season.
So, the choice looks like being between Amla and Eoin Morgan – Darren Sammy is not expected to be considered so early. If KXIP want to bolster their middle order, Morgan is the man, with Maxwell, then, likely to open the innings. However, Marsh has the pedigree at the top and can be a match-winning option.
Kings XI Punjab shelled out Rs 3 crore ($466000) for fast bowler T Natraj at the IPL 2017 auction, so it will be interesting to see if the man who made such an impression in the Tamil Nadu Premier League will go right into the playing XI.
Varun Aaron, Ishant Sharma and Mohit Sharma are the ones also competing for a place, with Sandeep Sharma expected to be named in the playing XI.
Confirmed playing XI:
Kings XI Punjab: Manan Vohra, Hashim Amla, Glenn Maxwell (C), Wriddhiman Saha, David Miller, Marcus Stoinis, Axar Patel, Swapnil Singh, Mohit Sharma, Sandeep Sharma, T Natarajan.
RPS: Ajinkya Rahane, Mayank Agarwal, Steve Smith (C), Ben Stokes, MS Dhoni, Manoj Tiwary, Dan Christian, Rajat Bhatia, Rahul Chahar, Imran Tahir, Ashok Dinda.
