Will Kings XI Punjab manage to stem the rot?

A mini Caribbean carnival is on the cards as Kings XI Punjab prepare to take on Kolkata Knight Riders in the first game of Saturday's double-header, hoping to avoid a fifth straight defeat that could reduce their IPL 2020 campaign to a mere formality.

Punjab's problems have only mounted since their spectacular win against RCB. As such, they have just two points from a possible 12 and are languishing at the bottom of the table, not knowing where exactly to point fingers at. They started off as a side with both Purple and Orange cap in their ranks, but that's what their campaign so far has been all about - individual brilliance.

When they were the best performing side in the powerplays, the death bowling was miserable. They finally lifted their slog-overs game in the last outing, only after having endured a painful, wicket-less phase of close to 37 overs across two games. The over-reliance on KL Rahul and Mayank Agarwal for their runs was beginning to haunt them, but the game where Nicholas Pooran provided the much-needed stability in the middle-order, the rest of the batting collapsed around him like a house of cards.

The frequent chopping and changing of personnel isn't helping their cause in any way. Seventh game into the season and KXIP are yet to identify their ideal XI. Fielding a long tail already, they have also been guilty of shuffling their batting order even when not needed. As such, the batting has lacked the stability, forcing the in-form captain to play the