dwayne smith
Dwayne Smith has been in good form for Gujarat Lions in the 2016 edition of the Indian Premier League so far Getty

Gujarat Lions take on Kings XI Punjab in the 28<sup>th match of the 2016 Indian Premier League (IPL) at the Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium, Rajkot, on 1 May (Sunday).

Where to watch live

The match starts at 10.30am BST/4pm IST. Live coverage is on Sky Sports 5 and Sky Sports 5 HD in the UK. Set Max, Sony Six, Sony Six HD, Sony ESPN and Sony ESPNHD will telecast it in India. Click here for the live streaming link.

Overview

The Lions come into this game on the back of a thrilling last-ball win against Rising Pune Supergiants on 29 April. The Gujarat outfit have won three games off the last ball so far in IPL 2016 which shows just how close the matches tend to be in the T20 format. What has been impressive is the way the openers, in particular Brendon McCullum and Dwayne Smith, have performed. They have given blistering starts and gone on to demolish the opposition bowlers. The way Smith is playing, it is unlikely that Aaron Finch will slot into the side once he returns from injury.

The biggest worry for skipper Suresh Raina will be the performance of the bowlers in the last two games. Dwayne Bravo and co have leaked runs, and even the spinners have been unable to stem the flow of runs. The Lions have won six games out of seven played and a win here will put them in prime position to qualify for the play-off stages.

shaun marsh
Shaun Marsh has played for Kings XI Punjab since the inaugural edition of the IPL in 2008 Getty

Kings XI Punjab have had a disastrous tournament so far, winning just one of six games played. While their overseas batsmen Shaun Marsh, Glenn Maxwell and skipper David Miller have hit form with the bat, the same cannot be said about their bowling.

Sandeep Sharma aside, the rest of the bowlers have struggled to take wickets and contain runs. Mitchell Johnson in particular has been a disappointment, while his replacement Kyle Abbott has not played well either.

Prediction

Gujarat Lions to win

Betting Odds (888sport)

  • Gujarat Lions to win: 1/2
  • Kings XI Punjab to win: 8/5

Team News

Gujarat Lions

Possible XI: Dwayne Smith, Brendon McCullum, Suresh Raina (c), Dinesh Karthik (wk), Dwayne Bravo, Ravindra Jadeja, James Faulkner, Ishan Kishan, Praveen Kumar, Dhawal Kulkarni, Shivil Kaushik.

Kings XI Punjab

Possible XI: Murali Vijay, Manan Vohra, Shaun Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, David Miller (c), Nikhil Naik, Axar Patel, Mitchell Johnson, Mohit Sharma, Pardeep Sahu, Sandeep Sharma.

Indian Premier League