In the 50th of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2020, the Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) will be locking horns with the Rajasthan Royals (RR) at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium on Friday. Steve Smith and his men is also desperate to stay alive in the season which guarantees another thriller against KL Rahul’s Punjab.
The buoyant KXIP has surprised everyone with their five consecutive victories against the top four teams in the IPL 2020 despite suffering five consecutive games earlier in the tournament. Currently, they are fourth in the points table with 12 points. While Rajasthan is at second last position with 10 points from 12 games.
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The last time these two teams squared off this season, it was a run-fest in Sharjah. While KXIP had as amassed as many as 223/2 after Mayank Agarwal scored his maiden IPL century, RR crossed the finish line after Samson’s half-century and a Rahul Tewatia show.
Kings XI Punjab (KXIP)
There remains radio silence on Mayank Agarwal’s injury status and availability, but KXIP would be glad with Mandeep Singh filling the big boots just fine. If match fit, Agarwal might return in place of Deepak Hooda but that leaves them with one too many openers and considerably short on finishers in their playing XI. Mandeep, in all probability, will have to drop down in that case. If the Karnataka batsman isn’t yet available, KXIP would likely retain the same side.
Probable XI: KL Rahul (C, wk), Mandeep Singh, Chris Gayle, Nicholas Pooran, Glenn Maxwell, Deepak Hooda/Mayank Agarwal, Chris Jordan, M Ashwin, Ravi Bishnoi, Arshdeep Singh, Mohammad Shami
Rajasthan Royals (RR)
After registering a comprehensive win over MI, the Royals, will not be looking to make many changes in their squad as well. If at all, they might just bring back Jaydev Unadkat as a replacement for Ankit Rajpoot.
Probable XI: Robin Uthappa, Ben Stokes, Steve Smith (C), Sanju Samson (wk), Jos Buttler, Riyan Parag, Rahul Tewatia, Jofra Archer, Shreyas Gopal, Ankit Rajpoot/Jaydev Unadkat, Kartik Tyagi
