The 47th match of IPL 2017 will see Kings XI Punjab battle it out against Gujarat Lions. The Punjab team will be high on confidence after convincing victories in their previous two encounters and would also be the favourites heading into this match. The two points available for the taking in this match are more crucial for KXIP, who are still in the race to make it to the playoffs.

It`s game day sheron! We take on Gujarat Lions today in Mohali looking for our 3rd win on the bounce! #LivePunjabiPlayPunjabi #KXIPvGL pic.twitter.com/TB42bBSt30

— Kings XI Punjab (@lionsdenkxip) May 7, 2017

KXIP have five wins from ten matches this season – the last of those wins coming against Royal Challengers Bangalore on Friday night. If they win their remaining four matches they should make it to the playoffs. If they lose one of their remaining matches, they could still make it to the playoffs, but for that to happen they will need other results to go their way. And then, there’s the incentive for finishing in the top two – so KXIP will ideally want to win all their remaining matches.

The Lions cannot qualify for the Playoffs, but they will be keen to put the brakes on their three-match losing streak. Suresh Raina’s side has won only three of their 11 matches so far, and even if they are to win their remaining three fixtures, they can only get to 12 points which will not be sufficient to make the top four cut. In their most-recent match, the Lions were blown away by the young pair of Sanju Samson and Rishabh Pant, who helped the Delhi Daredevils chase down 209. To add to their woes, the Lions will be without the services of one of their batting mainstays; Brendon McCullum has injured his hamstring, and will take no further part in the tournament. That injury means the Lions are left with only four overseas players in their squad, this might lead Chirag Suri’s IPL debut.

Thank you for all the memories, @Bazmccullum! Here`s wishing you a speedy recovery. You will be missed! #GameMaariChhe pic.twitter.com/qzc3DvzDjy

— The Gujarat Lions (@TheGujaratLions) May 5, 2017

Probable XI

Kings XI Punjab:

1 Manan Vohra, 2 Martin Guptill, 3 Shaun Marsh, 4 Hashim Amla/ David Miller, 5 Wriddhiman Saha (wk), 6 Glenn Maxwell (capt), 7 Axar Patel, 8 Mohit Sharma, 9 Varun Aaron, 10 Sandeep Sharma, 11 T Natarajan.

Gujarat Lions:

1 Aaron Finch, 2 Ishan Kishan, 3 Suresh Raina (capt), 4 Dinesh Karthik (wk), 5 Dwayne Smith/Chirag Suri, 6 Akshdeep Nath/Irfan Pathan, 7 Ravindra Jadeja, 8 James Faulkner, 9 Pradeep Sangwan, 10 Basil Thampi, 11 Ankit Soni.

Source: NYOOOZ DESK - IPL