IPL: Bottom-Dwellers Rising Pune Supergiants and Kings XI Punjab Aim To Avoid Wooden Spoon
MS Dhoni's Rising Pune Supergiants and Kings XI Punjab, who are at the bottom of the 2016 Indian Premier League in seventh and eighth place respectively, will be aiming for a graceful exit.
- Press Trust of India
- Updated: May 20, 2016 12:44 PM IST
![IPL: Bottom-Dwellers Rising Pune Supergiants and Kings XI Punjab Aim To Avoid Wooden Spoon](https://s.ndtvimg.com/images/content/2016/apr/806/rising-pune-supergiants-ipl-1004.jpg)
Highlights
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Rising Pune Supergiants are in seventh position in points table.
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Kings XI Punjab are at the bottom of the table.
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This is the first time MS Dhoni will not be part of an IPL play-off.
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 in Vizag on Saturday.
Supergiants are coming into the contest after a victory over Delhi Daredevils at the same venue, their home ground, while Kings XI Punjab have lost their last two outings -- against Royal Challengers Bangalore and table-toppers Sunrisers Hyderabad.
Kings XI Punjab's fourth and last win this season had come at this very ground, 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. There was little Dhoni could do given the acute scarcity of resources he faced.
![Kings XI Punjab Team 2504](https://s.ndtvimg.com/images/content/2016/apr/806/kings-xi-punjab-team-2504.jpg)
© BCCI
For Kings XI 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.
Kings XI Punjab have certainly missed quality players in their ranks and non-performance of the big-hitting David Miller has affected them badly.
Losing Glenn Maxwell and Shaun Marsh, among their most consistent players, added to the problems.
Now that they will take field for the last time this season, knowing that they have nothing to lose, going out of the event with a win is what both the teams would be hoping for.
Teams (From):
Kings XI Punjab: Murali Vijay (C), Hashim Amla, David Miller, Wriddhiman Saha, Gurkeerat Mann, Axar Patel, Marcus Stoinis, Sandeep Sharma, Mohit Sharma, Anureet Singh, Manan Vohra, Shardul Thakur, Nikhil Naik, Mitchell Johnson, KC Cariappa, Farhan Behardien, Arman Jaffer, Kyle Abbott, Pardeep Sahu, Swapnil Singh, Mitchell Johnson.
Rising Pune Supergiants: MS Dhoni (C), Ajinkya Rahane, Usman Khawaja, George Bailey, Ravichandran Ashwin, Saurabh Tiwary, Thisara Perera, Rajat Bhatia, Adam Zampa, Ashok Dinda, RP Singh, Murugan Ashwin, Baba Aparajith, Ankiit Sharma, Ankush Bains, Deepak Chahar, Scott Boland, Peter Handscomb, Jaskaran Singh, Albie Morkel, Ishwar Pandey, Irfan Pathan and Ishant Sharma.