The third game of the Indian Premier League season sees the Kings XI Punjab and the new side the Gujarat Lions making their bows in the competition this year and it promises to be a fascinating match.
Both sides look pretty powerful with the bat and on what should be a good batting track we should get a real run fest. Inexperienced captains add to the fascination surrounding this one.
Kings XI Punjab
The Punjabi side will be looking to prove that their run to the final of this competition two seasons ago was no fluke but based on their fortunes last season you could easily be forgiven for thinking it was as the Kings XI were the first side eliminated from playoff contention. That clearly wasn’t good enough.
As a result George Bailey, captain for last season, has been axed and the inexperienced captain David Miller has been given the job. One positive for binning George Bailey is the Kings XI can get Shaun Marsh into the side without affecting the balance of it. He has been a star for them in previous editions of this competition.
Gujarat Lions
The Lions are largely the Chennai Super Kings under a different name. They are missing one or two from that Super Kings squad with the likes of Ashwin and Dhoni at Pune now but in Suresh Raina, Dwayne Smith, Brendon McCullum, Dwayne Bravo and Ravindra Jadeja the core of the Chennai side are here.
Gujarat have plenty of options with their overseas players as Bravo, Smith and McCullum are joined by Aaron Finch, Dale Steyn, Andrew Tye and James Faulkner so it will be interesting to see which combinations they go with in this opening match.
Team news
Mitchell Johnson is in town for the Punjab team and he will lead the bowling attack with Sandeep and Mohit Sharma assisting him. Shaun Marsh, David Miller and Glenn Maxwell are expected to be the other three overseas players while eyes will be on Murali Vijay to see what sort of form he is in.
Brendon McCullum and Dwayne Bravo are certainties as overseas players for the Lions and then you would think the other two are between Smith and Finch to open with McCullum and which bowler to go with. By virtue of the fact he bats James Faulkner is the most likely choice.
Mohali
This ground was used in the T20 World Cup recently and it was good for batting and I’m expecting it to be good in this tournament too. The boundaries here are really big so both sides will need to get their angles right in the field and shots will have to be hit with real power to get over the fence.
Match preview
The bookmakers are struggling to split these sides but I’m surprised by that because to be the Lions look much the better side. In fairness if both batting line ups fire fully there isn’t a lot between the two although when the Lions have Jadeja potentially walking out at nine you know their depth isn’t up for question.
However the big difference between these two teams could lie with the ball where Gujarat Lions look much the stronger side. They have two excellent death bowlers in either Tye, Steyn, Faulkner or Bravo and in Pravin Tambe and Ravi Jadeja they have quality spin options too.
I’m not as convinced by the attack of the Kings XI and I can see it wilting if McCullum and Smith/Finch get off to a fast start right from the outset. That pressure combined with Gujarat’s quality at the death leads me to side with them here.
Tips
WON – Back Gujarat Lions to beat Kings XI Punjab for a 4/10 stake at 1.91 with Ladbrokes
Back them here:
