Dhoni’s Rising Pune Supergiants Face Off Against Kings XI Punjab

Rising Pune Supergiants take on Kings XI Punjab at Visakhapatnam on Saturday.

Their pride bruised following disastrous campaigns, Kings XI Punjab and Rising Pune Supergiants will look for a graceful exit from the ninth edition of the IPL when they square off against each other for one last time at Visakhapatnam on Saturday.

Supergiants are coming into the contest after a victory over Delhi Daredevils at the same venue, their home ground, while Punjab have lost their last two outings, against RCB and table-toppers Sunrisers Hyderabad respectively.

Punjab’s fourth and last win this season had come at Visakhapatnam, when they had got the better of Mumbai Indians.

To make an early exit from this tournament is a completely different zone for Supergiants skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who has excelled as a leader in all the previous editions. But never before has he been saddled with the kind of injury crisis that he dealt with this year.

The debutantes had hoped for better results after packing their squad with star performers such as Kevin Pietersen, Steve Smith, Faf du Plessis and Mitchell Marsh apart from handing the reins of the team to charismatic Dhoni.

However, none of the overseas players could last the length of the tournament, exiting on account of injuries.

For Punjab, it was a repeat of the previous seasons. Neither a change in captaincy nor the late addition of a overseas players could lift the team.

They continued to be laggards, lacking enough firepower and impact players to trigger a turnaround of fortunes. Adding to their woes was reports that there was a tiff between the team management and the owners.

(With inputs from PTI)