The last league match of the IPL 2018. Depending on how the match number 54 and 55 pan out, this match will be a must-win for Kings XI Punjab. Not only will they have to win this but they have the tough task of defeating CSK at their home by a huge margin to increase their run-rate. Chennai Super Kings who lost massively to DD last night will not take another loss before heading to the playoffs. Here are the probable playing XI –
Kings XI Punjab
KXIP has jumped off the cliff in the later stages of the tournament. After winning five out of their first six matches, they have managed to win only one in their next seven games. With a below-par Net run-rate, they will need a miracle to qualify for playoffs.
In the match against Mumbai, KXIP were outplayed. They made a mess of themselves and spoiled one of the most brilliant innings played by KL Rahul. No one else even came close to him and the losing margin does not convey how poor KXIP were.
KXIP missed Mujeeb due to injury. He should come in tomorrow hopefully. They dropped Nair and Agarwal to include Yuvraj and Tiwary. Yuvi has to go to accommodate Nair.
Playing XI –
Yuvraj Singh/Karun Nair, Chris Gayle, Manoj Tiwary, Ravichandran Ashwin (c), Aaron Finch, Mohit Sharma, Lokesh Rahul (wk), Axar Patel, Ankit Rajpoot, Marcus Stoinis/Mujeeb Rehman, Andrew Tye
Chennai Super Kings
Dhoni’s army cleaned up the Hyderabadi team in the previous match but went down to Delhi Daredevils in the last match. The shining spot was once again Ambati Rayudu who scored a fifty but others disappointed.
Playing against a team that had nothing to lose, CSK bowled well in patches and contained DD. It was in the last over that Bravo was hit for 28 runs and it changed the game. CSK batting had a rare failure.
In the last match, they dropped David Willey to include Lungi Ngidi who bowled really well. CSK may do some changes considering this is the last match.
Playing XI
Harbhajan Singh, Shane Watson, Dwayne Bravo, MS Dhoni (c & wk), Suresh Raina, Ravindra Jadeja/Karn Sharma, Ambati Rayudu, David Willey, Deepak Chahar, Sam Billings, Shardul Thakur/KM Asif/N Jagadeesan
