Kings XI Punjab aim for good start to IPL home run

Kings XI Punjab would look to get over the disappointment of back-to-back losses and make a winning start on home turf this IPL season when they take on Pune Warriors on Thursday, aiming to extract revenge on the visitors for defeat in their previous match.

This year and in some previous seasons as well, the Punjab side has failed to gain the initial momentum resulting in them not being able to go too far in the event, barring in the first season when, under Yuvraj Singh, they had reached the semi-finals.

The outfit co-owned by Bollywood actress Preity Zinta would be without English pacer Stuart Broad, who has been ruled out due to a calf injury. His presence would have added some much-needed zing to the Kings XI bowling attack.

In their first encounter of IPL 5, Kings XI Punjab were blown away by Rajasthan Royals' Ajinkya Rahane's heroics who made 98. KXIP could muster only 160 in response to the Jaipur team's mammoth 191.

In the match against Rajasthan, big names in the KXIP side - including skipper Adam Gilchrist, last edition's hero Paul Valthaty, Aussie import Shaun Marsh, Abhishek Nayar and David Hussey - failed to make big scores which was needed.

In their last match played in Pune against the Warriors, Kings XI, again batting second, could accumulate only 144 losing by 22 runs.

In this match too, Gilchrist (6) and (1) failed to give the team the desired start with both falling to run outs. It was spinner Bipul Sharma (35) who chipped in with some useful runs while some other batsmen including Mandeep Singh (24), Nayar (24) and David Hussey (18) were not able to play long innings.