On a three-match winning streak, Chennai Super Kings will look to seal their play-off position when they take on Kings XI Punjab in a crucial preliminary match of the IPL, today.

Almost reaching the end of the tournament, there is a mad scramble to bag the three available spots in the top-four to make the play-off cut, Delhi Daredevils became the first team to qualify with 20 points from 14 matches.

Chennai, are on the fourth spot after eight wins and six losses that left their points tally at 17. Kings XI Punjab also have fare chance of making the play-offs provided they win both their remaining matches and some results go their way. Punjab are currently seventh in the list with seven wins and seven losses.

Chennai, have gained momentum as the tournament approaches its end. They upstaged Kolkata Knight Riders in their previous match and that in front of a packed Eden Gardens.

And Chennai would be eyeing revenge against Kings XI Punjab for handing them a loss in front of their home fans last month.

Teams (from):

Kings XI Punjab: Adam Gilchrist (Capt.), Bipul Sharma, Paras Dogra, Harmeet Singh, Siddharth Chitnis, Love Ablish, Piyush Chawla, Amit Yadav, Parvinder Awana, Stuart Broad, Azhar Mahmood, Bhargav Bhatt, Ryan Harris, Vikramjeet Malik, Paul Valthaty, Sunny Singh, Shalabh Srivastava, Rajagopal Sathish, Nitin Saini, Nathan Rimmington, Abhishek Nayar, David Miller, Mandeep Singh, James Faulkner, Praveen Kumar, Shaun Marsh, Dimitri Mascarenhas, Ramesh Powar.

Chennai Super Kings: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (Capt.), Michael Hussey, Murali Vijay, Suresh Raina, Ravindra Jadeja, Srikkanth Anirudha, Dwayne Bravo, Albie Morkel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ben Hilfenhaus, Shadab Jakati, Doug Bollinger, Francois du Plessis, George Bailey, Scott Styris, Suraj Randiv, Abhinav Mukund, G Vignesh, Joginder Sharma, Kuthethur Vasudevadas, Subramaniam Badrinath, Sudeep Tyagi, Yo Mahesh and Wriddhiman Saha.

On May 13, 2024 Mohali witnessed a ‘ nail biting’ match between Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) and Deccan Chargers (DC) in the 61st match of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2012.

Punjab gave an awesome fight to the Hyderabad team beating their 190 score by a splendid boundary on the last ball, when they had only one run to win and only a single delivery in hand. The Kumar Sangakkara-led team can ill-afford any slip-up at this stage as there is a mad scramble among the teams to seal a berth for the play-offs.

Of the nine teams taking part in the competition, the Chargers have just two wins from 13 games. They along with Pune Warriors, who are currently placed eighth with four wins from 14, are out of the hunt.

With 12 points from an equal number of matches, the Punjab side, which managed to reach semi-final only once, in 2008, is placed at seventh in the table.

The battle has got intense now as top-of-the-table-team Delhi Daredevils and Kolkata Knight Riders may have virtually assured themselves of a spot in the play-offs, among rest of the five teams — Royal Challengers Bangalore, Mumbai Indians, Chennai Super Kings, Rajasthan Royals and Punjab -.

Punjab have tough games coming up as they haven’t played Delhi Daredevils yet and will be taking them on in Delhi after Sunday’s match followed by another one at Dharamsala later.

Depakote

The 48th match of the IPL 2012 season will be held between Kings XI Punjab will face Rajasthan Royals for the 48^th match of IPL 2012, at the Punjab Cricket Association Stadium, Mohali on May 5, 2012.

Kings XI Punjab have added themselves into the favorites list for winning the IPL 2012 title by their top quality cricket display in their recent matches. Rajasthan Royals will have to win this match to keep their hopes alive as they have won only four out of 10 matches played.

KXIP have defeated two strong teams Chennai Super Kings and Royal Challengers Bangalore back to back which has cherished the players. Playing on the home ground, KXIP will aim for another victory to rise up their position in the IPL 2012 points table.

Mandeep Singh, Nitin Saini have emerged as new rising stars for the Kings XI Punjab. Piyush Chawla, who won the match against RCB with a big six in the last ball, is doing well with the ball, he has taken 12 wickets in 10 matches at an average of 20.66.

Azhar Mahmood’s entry has changed the fortunes of Kings XI Punjab, he is serving the team with the ball and bat well. Azhar Mahmood has picked up 8 wickets in 5 matches and maintains an economy rate of 7.08.

The batting order of Rajasthan Royals is well built, but the main reason behind their failure is the incapability of the middle order to those extra runs in depth overs. Rahul Dravid, Owais Shah and Ajikya Rahane are doing a good job with assistance from Ashok Menaria. Shreevats Gowsami can be a bit more consistent for his team.

Teams:

Kings XI Punjab Mohali Squad: Mandeep Singh, Shaun Marsh, David Hussey (c), Azhar Mahmood, Abhishek Nayar, Paras Dogra, Nitin Saini (wk), Piyush Chawla, Ryan Harris, Praveen Kumar, Parvinder Awana

Rajasthan Royals Jaipur Squad: Rahul Dravid (c), Ajinkya Rahane, Shane Watson, Owais Shah, Brad Hodge, Shreevats Goswami (wk), Ashok Menaria, Brad Hogg, Ankeet Chavan, Amit Singh, Pankaj Singh