Rajasthan Aim Play-off Against Punjab

Chandigarh: As they move closer to the play-off stage, Rajasthan Royals would be looking to guard against complacency when they take on an unpredictable Kings XI Punjab side in their Indian Premier League match on Thursday.

Led by 40-year-old experienced campaigner Rahul Dravid, the Royals have won eight games out of 12 and are placed third in the table, while Punjab with five wins from 11 matches are in contention for acquiring a play-off berth.

The hosts would draw confidence from their dramatic six-wicket win over a formidable Royal Challengers Bangalore in their last tie, where KXIP's South African import David Miller bailed the team from the dumps and single-handedly won the match, chasing a mammoth 191-run target.

'Killer' Miller, the new name which the batsman has acquired from Punjab fans, had struck a 101 in 38-ball.

His ability to bring the team out from tight spots on few other occasions in this season has made Miller an extremely dependable player. He had earlier struck a 41-ball 80 against Pune Warriors.

David Hussey is leading the team in the absence of an under-performing Gilchrist, who dropped himself from the team in the last few matches.

The visitors would also take heart from the fact that three weeks ago they had bowled out Punjab for just 124 to inflict a crushing six-wicket defeat on them.

Australian all-rounder Shane Watson and 18-year-old Kerala lad Sanju Samson have been the positives for Royals.

Teams from:

Kings XI Punjab: Adam Gilchrist (Captain & wk), Mandeep Singh, Luke Pomersbach, David Miller, Manan Vohra, David Hussey, Piyush Chawla, Praveen Kumar, Harmeet Singh, Bhargav Bhatt, Parvinder Awana, Azhar Mahmood, Bipul Sharma, Siddharth Chitnis, Aniket Choudhary, Manpreet Gony, Gurkeerat Singh (wk), Shaun Marsh, Dimitri Mascernhas, Nitin Saini, Sandeep Sharma, Rajagopal Sathish, Sunny Singh, Paul Valthaty.

Rajasthan Royals: Rahul Dravid (Captain), Ajinkya Rahane, Sanju Samson (wk), Shane Watson, Brad Hodge, Stuart Binny, Owais Shah, James Faulkner, Dishant Yagnik (wk), Ajit Chandila, Siddharth Trivedi, S Sreesanth, Brad Hogg, Fidel Edwards, Kevon Cooper, Kushal Perera, Samuel Badree, Shaun Tait, Ankit Chavan, Ashok Maneria, Harmeet Singh, Kumar Borsea, Pravin Thambe, Rahul Shukla, Sachin Baby, Shreevats Goswami, Vikramjeet Malik.

Match facts
Thursday May 9, 2013 (day/night)
Start time 16:00 local (1030 GMT)