Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) start season nine of Indian Premier League (IPL) with their home game against Gujarat Lions (GL), the new team in T20 league. While KXIP have a lot of experience as they have played in all the previous seasons of IPL, GL have a squad with a lot of options available for each position including world-class players. With a skipper like Suresh Raina, who is one of the most consistent players in IPL, the team is expected to do exceptionally well in the contest of Twenty20 (T20) cricket. Before the match, here is the likely XI, Raina might go with for their league opener. FULL CRICKET SCORECARD: Kings XI Punjab vs Gujarat Lions, IPL 2016, Match 3, at Mohali
Top-order: GL have a lot of options for the opening slot, the best at hand undoubtedly has to be Brendon McCullum. The former New Zealand cricketer comes with a lethal combination of power-hitting at top, experience to read balls and conditions well and a terrific form. The Kiwi legend recently announced retirement from international cricket but his final Test saw him score the fastest Test century, which shows that the batsman is in great form. As a good compliment to him, Dwayne Smith may be sent to open the batting for the team. Smith has played a crucial role opening for Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and Raina will look to utilise that experience while himself come in at No. 3. With three power-hitters in the top-order, GL are expected to get a good start.
Middle-order: Though Dinesh Karthik generally opens the batting, the team needs the wicketkeeper-batsman to come out at No. 4 and strengthen the middle-order with his experience. Karthik, once settled, can play knocks that can take a team to victory. The team have more to follow, with one of the best players of the format, Dwayne Bravo coming next to Karthik. Another name that completes the batting is Uttar Pradesh batsman Eklavya Dwivedi. Dwivedi has had a very good time in Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2015-16, scoring runs consistently for his side. Ravindra Jadeja and James Faulkner coming out next and this forms a terrific lower-middle-order that ensures a lot of runs in the slog overs.
Bowlers: The bowling department of GL is an even balance between new and experienced players. The pace attack consists of Praveen Kumar, Faulkner, Bravo and Pradeep Sangwan. Praveen has had a decent Syed Mushtaq Ali sesaon while Bravo did exceptionally well with the ball for the eventual champions West Indies in the ICC World T20 2016. Faulkner also had a good time with the ball in the same tournament. Pradeep did well in the domestic circuit. For the spin attack, the team have Jadeja and Pravin Tambe which completes their bowling attack.
(Paulami Chakraborty, a singer, dancer, artist, and photographer, loves the madness of cricket and writes about the game. She can be followed on Twitter at @Polotwitts)
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