The 11th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) has reached its business end now as most of the teams will have to witness some crunch game in the last week of the league stages of the IPL 2018. One of those crunch games will be played between the two teams who can’t afford to a loss in the tournament now, Mumbai Indians (MI) and Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) in Mumbai. KXIP was humiliated by Royals Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in their last game.
Both the teams need to will their remaining two games in order to qualify for the IPL 2018 playoffs. The last time these two locked horns with each other, MI had defeated KXIP comfortably by a margin of 6 wickets. However, there is no doubt about the fact that both the teams do have proven match-winners in their respective squads who can single-handedly take the game away from any opposition. Let us have a look at 5 such players from both the teams:
1. KL Rahul (KXIP)
The Bangalore wicketkeeper-batsman KL Rahul has been in an excellent form and has been the main reason for Kings XI Punjab’s success so far. Opening the innings, he has been a major factor alongside Gayle and has the fastest fifty in the IPL which he smacked in the first match. KL has so far scored 558 runs in the 12 matches that he has played. He is currently averaging 56 and boasts a strike rate of 162. In the last game against KKR, despite losing wickets at one end and a mounting target at the other, Rahul was determined enough to use the long handle. He seemed to be the only hope for his team. He ended up scoring a fine 66 (29) with the help of two fours and seven sixes.