IPL 9: Gujarat Lions vs Kings XI Punjab – Probable playing XIs; players to watch out for

Vijay, who has been one of India's best Test players in the last few years, has an excellent opportunity to establish himself as KXIP's leader.

IPL 9: Gujarat Lions vs Kings XI Punjab – Probable playing XIs; players to watch out for

New Delhi: Kings XI Punjab would be looking to change their fortunes as they take on table-toppers Gujarat Lions in Match 28 of the Indian Premier League at Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium.

Punjab, under the captaincy of David Miller, have had a terrible season so far where they lost five out of six matches. The team's and the skipper's poor form forced the think tank to appoint a new skipper in Murali Vijay.

Vijay, who has been one of India's best Test players in the last few years, has an excellent opportunity to establish himself as KXIP's leader. The right-hander has hit some fine knocks so far in the series and the onus will now be on him to play a formidable innings against the Lions.

Gujarat Lions, on the other hand, are currently appear like the favourites to win the title.

While the openers have done most of the damage for the team, Suresh Raina, a run-machine in the previous seasons, hasn't looked in the best of form, 75 being his highest score so far this season. The left-hander has got starts in most of the matches, but it's high time he delivers one of his special innings.

Here are the probably playing XIs of both the teams:

Gujarat Lions: Brendon McCullum, Dwayne Smith, Suresh Raina (c), Dinesh Karthik (wk), Dwayne Bravo, Ravindra Jadeja, James Faulkner, Ishan Kishan, Praveen Kumar, Dhawal Kulkarni, Shivil Kaushik

Kings XI Punjab: Murali Vijay, Manan Vohra, Shaun Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, David Miller, Wriddhiman Saha, Axar Patel, Mitchell Johnson, Mohit Sharma, Sandeep Sharma, Pardeep Sahu