There are a bunch of similarities between the two North Indian neighbors, Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) and Delhi Daredevils (DD) as they both have never won an IPL title in the first decade of the cash-rich league. Even in the last five seasons of the tournament, they have not managed to even reach the playoffs. Ten different skippers for Daredevils and eleven for KXIP adding to the simulation. However, a new decade of the IPL is expected to be a new dawn for both teams, who are led by skippers who can lead the teams to their maiden IPL title. They will be locking horns with each other in their tournament opener in Mohali.

With the inclusion of veteran Gautam Gambhir, Daredevils will be led by the two-time IPL winning captain while R Ashwin, who has a decade of IPL experience, would have learned a trick or two from MS Dhoni in CSK. With two Australians — Ricky Ponting and Brad Hodge — as head coaches for both teams, the attitude of both the teams is expected to be an attacking one.

Also read: Match 2 (KXIP vs DD) – 5 Things to Look Out For

Considering the differences between the two teams, one can clearly say that they had a pretty different approach in formations of the teams during the IPL players’ auction of 2018. Daredevils have invested in youth by going in for seven players aged 23 or below (excluding Kagiso Rabada), while KXIP has gone in with a nice balance of youngsters and veterans. As many as seven players in the KXIP outfit are above 30 while there are plenty of youngsters, including the 17-year-old Afghanistan sensation Mujeeb Zadran.

Pitch and Weather conditions

The Mohali has been known to offer a lot of pace and bounce in favor of the stroke-makers. In the last international game played in Mohali in December 2017, Indian opener went berserk and became the first ODI batsman to register three 200+ scores. A similar batting-friendly wicket is likely for Kings XI’s opening match. This being a late afternoon match, the players will be welcomed by warm conditions, with a high of 33-degree Celsius.

Team News

Punjab will surely miss the service of the hard-hitting batsman, Aaron Finch in the opening game as he got married recently, this will create a void for either Chris Gayle or David Miller. It will also be interesting to see that KXIP decide to go in with Mujeeb right from the start of the tournament or not. With the Karnataka trio of KL Rahul, Mayank Agarwal and Karun Nair all being opening options, Miller will be preferred over Gayle.

Also read: Match 2 (KXIP vs DD) – X Factors Of The Game

On the other hand, Daredevils will not get the attacking Kagiso Rabada, and they will also be missing Glen Maxwell in the first match ass as he has been appointed to MC Finch’s wedding. In this scenario, both Jason Roy and Colin Munro could feature in the starting XI for Sunday’s game, along with Trent Boult and Chris Morris as the pace options.

When it comes to the opening game, Punjab has lost six of them, as have Daredevils, including five in succession since 2013. Overall, in terms of their head-to-head game, KIP has the lead, as they have won 11 to Daredevils’ 10, and also have 80 percent success rate against their North Indian neighbors in Mohali.

Stats to look out for:

• Gambhir needs one more half-century to equal David Warner’s IPL record of most 50+ scores in the IPL (36). Gambhir’s 4132 runs is the most by anyone in IPL without a ton.
• R Ashwin will be leading any IPL team for the first time in his 112th match, which will also be his first T20 in a leadership role. The previous most by a player before leading an IPL side was Ajinkya Rahane’s 97 matches.

Probable XIs:

KXIP: Mayank Agarwal, KL Rahul, Karun Nair, Yuvraj Singh, David Miller (O), Marcus Stoinis (O), Axar Patel, R Ashwin, Andrew Tye (O), Ankit Rajpoot, Mohit Sharma/Barinder Sran.

DD: Gautam Gambhir, Colin Munro(O), Jason Roy (O), Rishabh Pant, Shreyas Iyer, Vijay Shankar, Chris Morris(O), Amit Mishra, Shahbaz Nadeem, Trent Boult(O), Mohammad Shami.