Published: Apr 10, 2016, 05:24 PM (IST)
Edited: Apr 11, 2016, 12:12 AM (IST)
Match No. 3 of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2016 will see Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) clash with the new boys’ in town Gujarat Lions (GL). GL was purchased by Intex’s Keshav Bansal, who is also the youngest owner of any IPL team. Suresh Raina will lead GL, while KXIP will see David Miller skipper the side after George Bailey was not picked up in the IPL 2016 Auction. Raina has an upper hand as the captain as he had led his state team Uttar Pradesh to a win in Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2015-16. Both sides are overloaded with foreign and domestic stars that will surely make for a mouth watering encounter. Vishal Mehra, list downs some of the key battles that will add spice to the highly contested affair. FULL CRICKET SCORECARD: Kings XI Punjab vs Gujarat Lions , 3rd T20 Match, IPL 2016
David Miller vs Dwayne Bravo: Miller will lead the Kings XI Punjab for the first team after the management decided not to retain their previous captain George Bailey. Miller has been consistent for them as he had amassed 357 runs in IPL 2015. West Indies Champion all-rounder Bravo, who is coming off an massive high after winning the T20 World Cup last month, will look to continue his performance for Gujarat Lions. Bravo with his variation at the death along with his batting will be a marquee player for them. In their last encounter for West Indies vs South Africa, Bravo bowled just 2-balls to Miller, where he scored a single run. Given the fact both players are important to their teams, especially during the final overs, this will surely be a key fight.
Brendon McCullum vs Mitchell Johnson: Trans-Tasman rivalry is all set to reignite in IPL 9 when McCullum faces Johnson at Mohali on Monday. McCullum, who retired from international cricket after hitting the quickest Test hundred, will look to smother out Johnson. McCullum showed his hitting excellence against the might of Australian bowlers in at his home stadium, Johnson on the other is coming into IPL 9 without an iota of match practice and will need to be right on the mark from first ball to get the better of McCullum.
James Faulkner vs Glenn Maxwell: Australia’s most astute all-rounder Faulkner faces off against Australia’s most aggressive batsmen Maxwell during the contest between Punjab and Gujarat. Faulkner, who was in the news for getting thrashed by Virat Kohli during the ICC World T20 tie between India and Australia, will look to live up to his reputation as a bowler (prime responsibility) and a batsmen later. Maxwell on the other had showed just glimpses of his hard-hitting skills the last time he batted for KXIP in IPL and will look rekindle his form and come out as the better Australian in this all Aussie clash.
Ravindra Jadeja vs Akshar Patel: Jadeja and Akshar have constantly being compared to each other as they vouch for the same position in the Indian team. Jadeja has been preferred over Akshar due to his experience and control over the ball and more importantly for being a much more aggressive batsmen. Akshar, who came into national reckoning after his IPL 2014 performance,will look for an encore again and make a name for himself again. Jadeja on the other hand will look to prove his detractors wrong, who have time and again attributed him as an under-performing player.
Suresh Raina vs Mohit Sharma: Raina will want to get his good luck captaincy charm into the IPL as well after guiding UP to the T20 domestic glory in Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2015-16. Mohit has been Raina’s former team Chennai Super King’s (CSK) go to bowler when it came to restricting the flow of runs. Mohit will hope to mirror the same duties, when he turns up in the KXIP jersey. Given the fact that Raina has been off-color completely in the T20 World Cup, it hold goods for Mohit at any given situation.
(Vishal Mehra is a reporter at CricketCountry, who enjoys his weekly dose of anime, and plays cricket once a white moon. His twitter handle is @vishal_oxyjinn.)
